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COPYRIGHT, 191 1, BY TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
COPYRIGHT, I913, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



>CI.A351645 
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CONTENTS 

PREFACE v 

INTRODUCTION . . . Frank M. McMurry ix 
THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Henry Suzzallo I 
I. The Need to study Our Instruction 

in Spelling I 

II. The Changed Status of Spelling . . 6 
4 III. The Relation of Spelling to Other 

School Subjects 15 

v IV. The Selection of Spelling Materials 21 
\V. The Grading and Classification of 

Words 30 

VI. Associating Meaning, Pronunciation, 

and Spelling 37 

VII. Teaching the Meaning of Words . . 47 

VIII. Teaching the Pronunciation of Words 55 

IX. Teaching the Order of Letters ... 64 
X. Developing the Pupil's Independent 

Power 81 

XI. Testing Spelling 96 

XII. The Correction of Misspellings . . . 104 

XIII. The Quantity of Formal Instruction 115 

Outline 125 



PREFACE 

The purpose of this study is to present a survey 
of contemporaneous tendencies in the teaching 
of spelling. It is a summary of the situation in 
which the elementary teacher finds himself, with 
some explanation of the forces, traditional and 
radical, which have molded it. No attempt is 
made to deal with every controversy or problem ; 
space does not permit. Merely the more im- 
portant factors have been analyzed, for these 
establish the structure of our difficulties. When 
these are understood, the lesser problems find a 
ready explanation. 

Our traditions are frequently very insistent. 
Often a single mode of teaching will completely 
subordinate other supplemental means. No less 
dominating is reform, with its passion for the 
particular idea to which it has attached itself. 
The result is that teachers standing in the midst 
of many practical pressures, are not always able 
to comprehend the situation as a whole, to view 
each particular tendency in its relative place and 



PREFACE 

complete setting. This review is designed to 
offer the necessary perspective. It outlines the 
major controversies, traces their recent evolution, 
and gives some critical estimate of their worth. 

The whole effort of the monograph is to study 
a live situation, for institutional customs have 
an active molding power. Lay a wide reform 
upon the school, and the result will always be 
somewhat disappointing to the reformer. The 
tradition upon which reform has been laid is not 
static ; it has force and modifies every new idea. 
There are lines of most and least resistance in 
every situation, and these must be taken into 
account in administering any progressive policy. 
For this reason, the historical method is used 
throughout. Nothing illuminates the present so 
much as an understanding of immediately pre- 
ceding situations. Any basic interpretation of 
to-day's practices is dependent upon a compre- 
hension of yesterday's. 

If the basic method emphasized is historical, 
the critical method of the philosopher of educa- 
tion has been everywhere superimposed. For 
mere facts must be evaluated, expressed in terms 
vi 



PREFACE 

of ^their significance for the school's purposes 
and given a relative worth in the whole scheme 
of teaching methods. Hence sociology and psy- 
chology, and the other studies from which edu- 
cation gains its scientific criticisms and sanc- 
tions, have been utilized in measuring the worth 
of classroom teaching. The philosophy of edu- 
cation, just because it views education as a 
whole from norms erected by its own situation, 
has been used to reveal many inconsistencies, 
overemphases, and false relations, readily per- 
ceived when the elements of the situation are 
seen in their total setting. Hence the study goes 
beyond a simple historical tracing of particular 
methods and a descriptive statement of the man- 
ner in which these are operative in the present. 
It is constructive in that it suggests the particu- 
lar function of each method and the manner in 
which these supplement each other in the whole 
work of instructing children in spelling. 

Inevitably the gaps in our knowledge are re- 
vealed. Not all the experience we have can 
interpret the whole story. The empirical discov- 
eries of the teacher, presented in pedagogical 
vii 



PREFACE 

tradition, and the criticisms of the analyst, 
stated in current theory, fall short of complete- 
ness. There is need of a more minute and accu- 
rate evaluation of teaching methods which only 
the experimentalists in teaching can give. For 
them this study will have worth. It will point 
the issues which are of practical concern and 
suggest the definite bits of truth which must be 
known before we can progress rationally. It is 
far better that the educational psychologist 
and the comparative experimentalist in teach- 
ing study the issues which are vital to profes- 
sional teachers. Their results will then be more 
readily heeded by the great masses of teachers, 
for the facts revealed by their inquiries will be 
eagerly received and applied. 

It is hoped, therefore, that the monograph 
here presented will assist in the improvement of 
our methods of teaching spelling : (i) directly, 
by giving a wider comprehension of the tend- 
encies now effective in our spelling situation ; 
and (2) indirectly, by suggesting a series of prac- 
tical problems that require the scientific contri- 
butions of an experimental pedagogy. 



INTRODUCTION 

BY FRANK M. McMURRY 

To a large majority of teachers — even of those 
who are progressive — spelling is a hopeless sub- 
ject. It seems to lack the possibility of such rich 
subject-matter as makes reading and history at- 
tractive ; and to want that organization of its 
facts that distinguishes every worthy branch of 
knowledge, since the units that compose it are 
not thoughts, but merely individual words. In 
consequence it is recognized as almost entirely 
a mechanical study, providing little motive for 
the pupil, requiring little skill from the teacher, 
and depending mainly on mere repetition or brute 
endurance for mastery. 

Something like a revelation awaits teachers 
holding the above conception, in the following 
discussion of spelling. For it is treated as a 
branch of knowledge that is subject to the same 
general standards as the most respectable studies. 
For example, the need of providing for motive, 
through subject-matter that is intrinsically inter- 
ix 



INTRODUCTION 

esting, is recognized here as elsewhere, and the 
way of satisfying the need — at least to a large 
extent — is pointed out. 

Mere scattered lists of words are opposed, 
much as were lists of dates in history or of 
places in geography ; and extensive association 
is demanded as in other fields where ideas are 
abundant. 

The importance of eliminating much useless 
matter is urged here, as it has long been urged 
in arithmetic, and a basis of selection according 
to real values is proposed. 

The influence of individuality on the curric- 
ulum is more fully recognized than is usual, 
inasmuch as the peculiarities of each child are 
made partial factors in determining the words 
which he shall learn to spell. And finally, the 
test of actual use, in determining the thorough- 
ness of mastery secured, is applied in a way to 
satisfy the most ardent believer in the present 
functioning of knowledge. In other words, spell- 
ing is here placed upon much the same plane, in 
dignity, with other subjects; it is discussed as 
if it were a branch that is capable, like them, 
x 



INTRODUCTION 

of being thoughtfully studied and thoughtfully 
— not merely mechanically — taught; and the 
standards to which it is subjected are the same 
as should be used in testing the worth of sub- 
ject-matter, method of presentation and text- 
books in any, or all, other fields. 

This point of view has been greatly needed. 
For, while there has been a movement in this 
direction, it has not hitherto found so full ex- 
pression. Every study has a mechanical or formal 
side, as opposed to the side that appeals to thought 
or spirit ; and in every study there is a marked 
tendency to center attention on this more me- 
chanical portion, and to rely upon cold drill for 
its mastery. The newspapers usually call for more 
extensive drill when pupils prove themselves de- 
ficient in any line. /It is high time for both teach- 
ers and parents to understand that drill is one of 
the clumsiest tools we have in the field of edu- 
cation. Those who so loudly call for more drill, 
at other times demand more thinking. But the 
more drill there is, the less the thinking; and 
the more the thinking, the less the drill that is 
necessary. Progress in the teaching of every 
xi 



INTRODUCTION 

subject in the elementary school during the last 
generation can be clearly traced in the dimin- 
ished dependence on mere repetition. For ex- 
ample, location of places in geography was for- 
merly fixed by going over the list time and again. 
But as the subject has become more dynamic, 
location has been subordinated to real thoughts 
of value ; and while location of places is probably 
more firmly fixed in memory than ever, it is ac- 
complished incidentally while the broad facts 
that make use of location are under considera- 
tion. It is only the poorest teachers of geography 
who now contentedly rely upon bald repetition, 
rather than upon thoughtful association, as their 
main means of memorizing the formal facts. 

One's faith in mere drill may safely be taken 
as a barometer of one's progress as a teacher ; 
and the following discussion will give the reader 
occasion to inquire where he has been stand- 
ing in this matter, while showing him how to 
advance. 

Teachers College, 

Columbia University. 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 
I 

THE NEED TO STUDY OUR INSTRUCTION IN 
SPELLING 

Our teachers are peculiarly sensitive to the mis- 
spellings of their pupils. In geography, history, 
or mathematics they are fairer to themselves 
and the children in making allowance for inev- 
itable imperfections in the results of their teach- 
ing. In spelling they forget that their pupils 
are growing, not grown ; and a lapse or error be- 
comes a source of exaggerated discouragement 
or irritation. The careful teacher feels a pang of 
conscience with every misspelled word, and even 
an indifferent teacher is shocked into a sense of 
shortcoming, if the errors called to his attention 
are those of spelling. 

Our Sensitiveness to Spelling Defects 
It is probable that this professional sensitive- 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

ness regarding spelling is due to the fact that 
lay criticism focuses itself more readily upon 
defects of spelling than upon those of other 
school subjects. Next to the complete inability 
to read, poor spelling is to the public the surest 
sign that one is not educated. One may miss the 
meaning or pronunciation of a word in reading, 
and it will be forgotten the next moment ; the 
impression is transient, as attention is rapidly 
carried along to something else. Let a word be 
misspelled and the incompetence is recorded as 
a visible and more or less permanent proof of 
defect. Hence a poor speller is the first and 
readiest discovery of the layman. The lay critic, 
being human in the forgetfulness of his own 
youthful errors, readily thinks that the children 
of his own generation were better taught ; he 
then lays the lash of odious comparison upon 
the teachers of his own children. This criticism 
is usually ill-founded, for such accurate compar- 
ative information as we have indicates the supe- 
riority of the actual results attained under mod- 
ern methods of instruction in spelling. Never- 
theless the criticism is terrifying. 
2 



THE NEED TO STUDY SPELLING 

Resulting Complexity of Methods 

The result has been that energy and ingenuity 
have been expended upon the teaching of spell- 
ing to a degree that is quite disproportionate to 
its relative place in life and the school curricu- 
lum. A decade or so ago this over-emphasis 
expressed itself mainly in an energetic increase 
of drill, review, and examination; to-day it shows 
itself mainly in an effort to invent and utilize 
better methods of presenting and correcting 
spelling words. Many new modes of teaching 
children to spell have been devised ; old meth- 
ods have been dragged from the historic scrap- 
heap and revived under both old and new names. 
Contextual spelling, development through multi- 
ple sense-association, and phonogrammic classi- 
fication of words are among the newer ideas 
introduced ; while the spelling match, diacritical 
marking, and word analysis represent the restor- 
ations. Amid all these methods, new and old, 
representing an unusual complexity of teaching 
device, it is difficult for the old teacher, much 
more for the young teacher, to steer himself. 
3 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

That there is necessity for the evaluation of 
spelling methods is manifest in the pedagog- 
ical confusion that exists in the works of text- 
book writers, the practice of teachers, and the 
discussions of theorists. 

The Need of Evaluation 

The whole situation requires careful analysis 
in terms of classroom experience and investiga- 
tion under experimental conditions if the relative 
worth of various systems, methods, and devices 
of teaching is to be determined. The obligation 
for clarifying the situation rests upon the practi- 
cal methodologists of progressive and investi- 
gative turn of mind, wherever these may be 
found throughout the country. They will need to 
study our prevalent methods of teaching spelling 
by every approach ; to note their genesis in terms 
of the various traditions and forces which have 
originated and molded them ; to compare the 
uses and effects of various teaching procedures 
under differing situations ; and finally to measure 
the efficacy of our present methods, general and 
special, by standards of scientific construction. 
4 



THE NEED TO STUDY SPELLING 

A Preliminary Survey of Present Methods 

But before we can reach the all-important 
stage of a scientific investigation of spelling 
methods by an experimental teaching that will 
test their relative efficiency, we must know what 
our spelling situation is. Description and analy- 
sis normally precede experimentation; they re- 
veal the issues upon which current theory and 
practice express differences of opinion. To de- 
scribe the status of teaching in spelling we shall 
need to know the methods in current use, to 
note the manner of their introduction, the extent 
of their adoption, the special problems they were 
designed to solve, and their relation to other 
methods of instruction which they supplement 
or with which they compete. We must also 
render such broad estimates of worth as are 
apparent to the experienced analytical observer ; 
and finally reveal the important controversies 
that call for experimental solution. 



II 

THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

It is obvious to any careful professional ob- 
server that the status of instruction in spelling 
has greatly improved within a quarter of a cen- 
tury. An increase in the types of teaching em- 
ployed for both old and new purposes has been 
a source of fruitful selection. Old methods have 
given way to new or have persisted against in- 
novations that had less logical claim to success. 
Among the many devices and methods there 
has been a struggle for existence on the basis of 
fitness and for the most part only the better of 
them have survived. There has of course been 
much accompanying waste of which we must 
rid ourselves. But the fundamental factors in 
the effective teaching of spelling are now readily 
recognized, at least in degree sufficient to guar- 
antee their extended application. It is the great 
change in the aim and spirit of spelling instruc- 
tion which is reconstructing its detailed methods. 
6 



THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

It is therefore useful at the outset to know in a 
broad way the larger tendencies toward change 
now current among teachers. 

Teaching subordinates Testing 

A quarter of a century ago the spelling period 
was given over to the mere hearing of spelling 
lessons. The teacher heard the children spell 
the words that had been assigned for mastery, 
and made the corrections as the errors occurred. 
More often the children wrote the words in lists 
as the teacher pronounced them. An oral spell- 
ing by the teacher afforded the basis for mark- 
ing misspelled words. A new list of words was 
then assigned for the next day's lesson without 
much anticipation of, or preparation for, special 
difficulties. Correction on the part of the erring 
child consisted in writing the misspelled words 
a specified number of times under scant super- 
vision after school or during a study period. 
The so-called class lesson was really a daily ex- 
amination. Under such a system the learning of 
spelling was a matter for home assignment and 
individual study. The class exercise was purely 
7 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

for the purpose of testing the child's knowledge. 
It did not devote itself either to the careful 
presentation and development of new difficulties 
or to the watchful correction of errors. In all its 
emphases it was primarily a test rather than a 
lesson. 

In most places to-day, the class exercise in 
spelling is vastly different. The teacher spends 
his time in carefully presenting a few words, 
rather than in examining the child's ability in 
many. New work is a matter of class study, 
where words are presented with unusual artful- 
ness in order to suggest their meaning naturally 
through circumstance or context. Every effort 
is made to safeguard the child against a wrong 
first impression and an incorrect learning of the 
word. If a home lesson is assigned, it is not a 
mere blocking out of a number of words to be 
learned ; the assignment is an exercise in which 
the teacher uses all his foresight in anticipating 
the various kinds of trouble the child will meet, 
focusing the attention on special difficulties and 
suggesting modes of self- instruction. The modern 
spelling exercise may test the child's knowledge, 
8 



THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

but its primary function is to teach rather than 
to examine. Here testing is a mere accessory of 
instruction and completely subordinated to it. 

Prevention supplements Correction 

As might be implied from the foregoing, the 
earlier teaching primarily looked for error, which 
it promptly assumed to correct, though it per- 
formed even this task loosely, as we shall 
later see. As emphasis was laid on testing the 
child's knowledge, it was necessarily corrective 
in spirit. To-day teaching in spelling aims to get 
rid of error by anticipating and preventing it 
through a watchful supervision of first impres- 
sions and associations. This is the significance 
of the shortened assignment lists, the elaborate 
development of the meaning and form of words, 
and the multiplicity of devices for interesting 
the child in the right observation and use of 
words. Even the correction of spelling errors 
has grown more efficient through its companion- 
ship with a skilled teaching which aims to avoid 
unnecessary error. Correction no longer stops 
with a check mark and a reprimand ; it inquires 
9 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

into cause, makes a truly pedagogical correction, 
and finally makes certain that recovery from 
error is complete. The corrective work is done 
with a spirit and thoroughness designed to pre- 
vent the recurrence of the need of correction. 

Vital Instruction supersedes Formal Work 

What could be more dreary than spelling lists 
of words unrelated to each other and devoid of 
vital significance to the child ? Such a task must 
have been to the child what learning nonsense- 
syllables is to an adult. The gap between the 
child's need to spell his own words and the 
adult's demand that he spell certain others is 
now better bridged than before. To begin with, 
the first spelling that the child undertakes is a 
translation of his own speech into sight symbols so 
that another may read his thought. When spell- 
ing instruction becomes more systematic, words 
outside the child's active vocabulary are not di- 
rectly imposed. They are brought in indirectly. 
He is given the experiences that bring the new 
terms into his life as appropriate symbols for his 
new thoughts, feelings, and deeds. He is stim- 
10 



THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

ulated to speak of these new pilgrimages into 
knowledge and to write of them. Then the spell- 
ing of a word that was very strange yesterday 
is no dull task ; it is the acquisition of a technique, 
as necessary from the child's standpoint as from 
the adult's. Such is the changed spirit of spelling 
instruction in our schools. It has become a vital, 
well-related business where before it was unmo- 
tivated and isolated ; it is now real where before 
it was formal. 

Change in the Type of Motivation 

One can well imagine the type of motivation 
used under the older methods of teaching spelling. 
The words were too frequently related to the 
child merely through the teacher. The child did 
not feel any direct relation to the word, but he 
did to the teacher. His dependence upon the 
latter was obvious. He learned the spelling word 
in order to get along with the teacher. The 
teacher thus became an end in education, not 
a means. It is easy to note the type of motivation 
which would be developed in such a situation. 
It was coercive and harsh, emphasizing all the 
ii 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

qualities of mind that accompany subservience 
to a master, or rivalry with one's fellows. 

The value of such spelling was extrinsic, not 
intrinsic. And even the extrinsic worth of spell- 
ing to the child was not fundamental, but adven- 
titious; it referred not to his permanent ability 
to express himself, but to his transient and con- 
ventionalized relation to the teacher. The glory 
of success in the competition of the spelling 
match typified the kind of motives used to stim- 
ulate the good speller ; the deprivation and shame 
of being kept after school were indicative of the 
deterrents which kept the poor speller from an 
utter neglect of the spelling book. 

It would be well if we could say that all this 
has passed. It has not yet done so with any com- 
pleteness in current practice ; but in spirit and 
in policy we have already accepted the standard 
that good instruction in spelling depends upon 
improving the quality of motivation. Practical 
teachers no longer argue that the spelling period 
should not have a content of its own. This is 
debated only where the problem is academic. 
The original demand to spell a word may come 

12 



THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

from outside the spelling period, but the teacher 
through the introduction of proper basic experi- 
ences in the spelling lesson will try to create a 
demand for the word then and there. Thus the 
spirit of naturalism which is slowly driving arti- 
ficiality out of the schools is, with the artistic 
teacher, making spelling vital to the child. There 
is now interest wherever spelling is well taught ; 
the children are active not dull, eager not driven. 

Spelling reflects General Educational Progress 

These changes in the spirit of instruction in 
spelling are largely reflections of general pro- 
gress in teaching method. Spelling within the 
domain of its own special methods has been a 
follower rather than a contributor. It has even 
been tardy in its followership. But this is to be 
expected since spelling is a secondary subject in 
the curriculum ; for one does not need to spell 
till one has something to say and wishes to write 
it. Logically, or psychologically, speaking, spell- 
ing as a subject makes a tardy entrance and an 
early withdrawal. In this respect it is like that 
other subordinate subject — penmanship. For 
13 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

this reason the progress and status of instruction 
in spelling are largely determined by its relations 
to other subjects, more particularly in recent 
decades to reading and written expression. Hence 
we have the need to trace the relation of spelling 
to the other subjects. 



Ill 

THE RELATION OF SPELLING TO OTHER 
SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The Early Connection of Reading and Spelling 

In the beginning the subject of spelling was 
closely associated with the subject of reading, a 
relation somewhat difficult for the modern trained 
teacher to understand, since spelling, like pen- 
manship, is a technical equipment made neces- 
sary by the demands of written expression. The 
connection is explained by the history of the 
school curriculum and methods of teaching dur- 
ing the colonial period. The first schools were 
reading schools, founded that children might read 
the Bible and understand the word of God. The 
method by which early reading was taught was 
the spelling or alphabetic method ; and down to 
the early part of the nineteenth century the 
school regulations called for teaching children to 
read "by spelling the same," that is, through 
learning the alphabet and spelling the letters of 
15 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

words so as to approximate the sound of the 
word. 

Its Influence 

This early association of reading and spelling 
had far-reaching influences. It biased the con- 
tent of spelling. The materials of the latter sub- 
ject have always been drawn more frequently 
from reading than from other school studies. In 
addition, the early methods of using the alphabet 
to teach reading were soon fastened on to the 
teaching of spelling. There they have persisted. 
One has only to mention oral spelling, diacriti- 
cal markings, and syllabication as devices used 
both in beginning reading and in formal spelling 
to note the connection. 

Spelling as a Separate Subject 

A little later spelling was differentiated from 
the subject of reading, largely because of the 
appearance of spelling books which gave it more 
or less of an independent existence as a formal 
subject. This position was maintained through- 
out most of the nineteenth century. Whereas its 
16 



SPELLING AND OTHER SUBJECTS 

content had been determined mainly by the mat- 
ter that children had read at school, its new char- 
acter as a group of dictionary lists increased its 
independence, and spelling was taught without 
much reference to its relation to the other sub- 
jects studied at school. It had reached its ex- 
treme place as an independent discipline, and in 
consequence was less vital in its selection of con- 
tent and more formal in its methods than at any 
other period. 

The Movement for Correlation 

Toward the end of the last century the advent 
of a general pedagogical movement which tried 
to correlate each subject with every other, had its 
influence upon spelling. But the influence upon 
spelling was more lasting than on any of the 
other subjects, largely because spelling had at- 
tained an unusual independence and formaliza- 
tion, less warranted perhaps in the case of spell- 
ing than of other studies. The more enthusiastic 
of these correlationists argued that spelling had 
no content of its own and that it should receive 
its materials from other subjects. Hence, geo- 
17 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

graphy, history, grammar, arithmetic, and science 
made their contribution of words to the spelling 
period along with reading. Others went so far as 
to propose that the spelling period be abolished 
and all necessary spellings be taught "inciden- 
tally " during the other class periods. 

These radical measures, which were the inevi- 
table influence of the teachings of the American 
Herbartians, did not gain a wide acceptance, nor 
did they endure to any extent among the enthu- 
siasts themselves. Recovering from its partial 
obliteration and its temporary subordination, 
spelling once more resumed considerable inde- 
pendence as a school subject. But the temporary 
domination of other subjects over spelling was 
influential for good. Never again has spelling 
become as formal as it once was. Its forms have 
come into relation with the situations requiring 
them, and spelling has been taught more vitally 
ever since. 

The Present Relationship 

If the pedagogical principle of correlation 
broadly blazed the way for the more accurate and 
18 



i 



SPELLING AND OTHER SUBJECTS 

vital relating of spelling to other subjects, an im- 
portant quality in characterizing its present sta- 
tus, it remained for psychological analysis defin- 
itely to point out the manner of its achievemeat. 
/The present-day view is that spelling as a school 
J subject is intimately dependent on written com- 
position or expression. The child's need to spell 
is directly called into existence by his need to 
express himself in written symbols. The domina- 
tion of reading over spelling is purely an historic 
accident that persists influentially in pedagogical 
tradition. The school child of to-day may read 
without knowing much about spelling. The 
smaller vocabulary of written composition rather 
than the larger one of reading should set the task 
of spelling. In theoretic acceptance spelling is 
therefore psychologically subordinate to written 
composition, and all the better movements toward 
change in the relationship of spelling with other 
subjects point in that direction. 

In actual practice this theoretic status is not 
fully realized. The ordinary teacher finds it diffi- 
cult to break with tradition, and the average text- 
book-maker responds rather intimately to his 
19 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

market. The latter has, too, the very great diffi- 
culty of prearranging subject-matter, and thus 
becomes a further brake upon progress. It is not 
surprising, therefore, that spelling books have 
been modified slowly. They still go their tradi- 
tional way, although not so much as before. In 
the mean while, the average teacher with consist- 
ent progress modifies what is given him in the 
text by adding words from the spontaneous work 
of the composition period. 



IV 

THE SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

The source of the words taught in the spelling 
period has been largely suggested above. The 
changing relationship of spelling to the other 
school subjects unavoidably affects the spelling 
vocabularies utilized. But a further view of the 
matter is necessary in order to indicate the more 
detailed influences which determine the selection 
of words for study. 

The Importance of the Textbook 

Ideally speaking, the words of first import to 
a child are those he needs for his spontaneous 
written compositions. In practice the school can- 
not make adjustments so fine as such a theory 
would suggest. Just because school teaching is 
a systematic business it must proceed by some 
plan, in a more or less systematic way. This 
does not at all imply that its methods of pro- 
cedure must be artificial rather than artful or 

21 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

artistic. As all children do not have the same 
needs, and those they share do not come into use 
at the same moment, the school strikes a com- 
promise and uses a plan of its own. In conse- 
quence, the material laid down by the course of 
study and the adopted spelling text really deter- 
mines the words used by the greater number of 
teachers. In most courses of study the speller is 
the course. For this reason, the manner of text- 
book-making is an important element in under- 
standing our situation. 

The Influence of the Earliest Spellers 

That many of the first texts in spelling were 
" desk-made " seems obvious to one who exam- 
ines them. They certainly were not determined 
mainly by schoolroom experience. In fact, lay- 
men frequently wrote spelling books, mere phil- 
ological erudition being regarded as a more impor- 
tant qualification than experience in the primary 
school. Such authorship would not commend a 
manuscript to a publisher to-day. These books 
naturally imposed adult standards in the selec- 
tion of words and disregarded the child's use of 

22 



SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

them. The words were more likely to be taken 
from dictionaries than from school subjects. Such 
classifications as were given to the material re- 
presented an adult logic, and the grading of words 
was mechanical rather than psychological, the 
difficulty of a word being largely measured by 
the number of syllables it contained. On these 
initial wrong assumptions the first traditions of 
the spelling book were established. And the tra- 
ditions have become stubborn, as every reformer 
has found. 

The difficulty with our spelling books is that i 
they are descendants of each other, a new book 
being a modification of an old one. Even teach- I 
ers of long experience have not essayed to utilize 
their first-hand experiences as more important 
determinants than established convention. This 
accounts for the persistence of "desk-made" 
books even when teachers with wide practical 
experience write them. Words which children 
and ordinary people never use are still included, 
and they are classified and graded after schemes 
that do not even approximate any real child's 
needs. 

23 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Books based on Classroom Trial 
It is not until we come within a decade or so 
of the present day that the laboratory test of 
classroom use is applied to spelling lists. It can- 
not be said yet that it is demanded by teachers ; 
it is offered as a recommendation by authors and 
publishers under the pressure of sharp competi- 
tion in book adoptions. The prefaces of recent 
spellers contain such statements as the follow- 
ing : " This speller has been in successful use 
for a number of years " ; or, " The words in this 
speller have been selected from lists supplied by 
principals and teachers in the schools of six 
cities " ; or, " The words given in each grade 
have been thoroughly tested by a large number 
of teachers." Publishers of school texts have 
been known to publish advance texts for a year's 
trial in the classroom prior to the publication of 
the sale edition. The influence of such empirical 
standards has been marked, particularly in elimi- 
nating words of infrequent usage, in reducing 
the number of words included, and in classify- 
ing and grading words according to the interests 
and capacities of children. 
24 



SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

The Need of investigating Adult Vocabularies 
It cannot yet be said that investigations have 
been conducted to show which one, two, or three 
thousand words are of most frequent usage 
among adults whose vocational station in life is 
determined by the fact that they have not gone 
beyond the first eight grades of school. We do 
not yet know with any show of accuracy which 
of these are seldom misspelled and which are 
persistent sources of error among large numbers 
of people. Our social standard is merely an in- 
accurate tradition of the spelling-book makers, 
somewhat modified by the personal judgment of 
the particular authors and the protests of teach- 
ers who compel some revision. We have still to 
achieve a careful investigation into the vocabu- 
laries of adult life which set the spelling demand 
and give us our problem. 

Supplementary Spelling Lists 

While the domination of textbook material has 

been large in the spelling period, it must be said 

that it decreases. Texts are now so frequently 

supplemented by word lists made by the indi- 

25 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

vidual teacher in the course of teaching his par- 
ticular class that the sources of these supplemen- 
tations should be stated. These additions are of 
three types : (i) grade lists, (2) class lists, and 
(3) individual lists. 

Grade Lists 

Teachers of particular grades within a single 
school system frequently build up more or less 
permanent lists from the various textbooks used 
in the course of study for their particular grade. 
The mastery of these words in advance of or 
parallel to their appearance in the normal course 
of instruction is chiefly preparatory and preven- 
tive. Growing out of the teacher's experience of 
actual spelling needs with the course of study as 
it is, such grade lists afford a much more vital 
and efficient series of words than the speller. 
The speller is an adjustment to country-wide 
conditions ; the grade list to a particular school 
system with a fairly uniform course of study. 

Class Lists 

In addition many individual teachers maintain 
26 



SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

class lists composed of difficult spellings and ac- 
tual misspellings which occur in the written exer- 
cises of a considerable number of the class. If 
the children ask how to spell a word for which 
the teacher has not provided, the word is spelled 
for them and then assigned to the next spelling 
lesson. The children keep regular blank books 
for such words as are thus assigned. Children 
are not allowed to guess at a spelling ; they are 
told the spelling or asked to go to the dictionary, 
and the fixation of the word is tested at the next 
recitation. The same method of treatment applies 
to misspellings corrected in the class periods as- 
signed to other studies. Thus the correction of 
special class errors in spelling is efficiently fol- 
lowed up. Such lists are reconstructed with each 
year, though the materials of different years 
afford a stable source of selection for grade lists. 

Personal Lists 

In addition to the grade and class lists there 

are personal lists for each child, usually kept in 

the same blank book as the class list. As a child 

writes on any subject, particularly in English 

27 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

composition, he is encouraged to write down (i) 
every doubtful spelling for later investigation and 
mastery, (2) every word the spelling of which has 
been told him by teacher or classmate, and (3) 
every word that is marked as wrong in the work 
returned to him. To recruit further words for in- 
dividual needs a special exercise is sometimes 
given in the form of spontaneous spelling lists. 
Each child writes all the words he can think of 
as rapidly as possible. The misspelled words are 
then corrected and placed on the personal list. 
This is not so good a source as the day to day 
contribution which comes from the written exer- 
cises of the language period, but it supplements 
it. These personal spelling lists are then fre- 
quently checked up by the teacher. The personal 
spelling list is the finest adjustment of materials 
that the school can make. It represents a provision 
for individual variation which is quite remote 
from the gross and approximate adjustment of 
the spelling-book material. 

The source of spelling words has thus greatly 
improved. It has more and more provided words 
that the child needs ; less and less imposed little- 
28 



SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

used words that have no significance for him. 
Spelling has come to deal with the child's real 
spelling needs no matter in what subject they oc- 
cur, but more particularly with those that arise 
in connection with written composition. The ad- 
justment of word lists to individual needs has 
become more refined ; the spelling book's broad 
guess at need is, in the case of the progressive 
and industrious teacher, supplemented by grade, 
class, and personal lists. 



THE GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION OF 
WORDS 

The standards which have determined the com- 
position of spelling lists to be taught are the 
school's rough approximations to the actual social 
demand which says that each child should finally 
know how to spell the words of most frequent 
usage among ordinary adults. Crude as these ap- 
proximations are, they are a recognition of the 
social factor in the construction of the course of 
study. In so far as spelling materials are to be 
selected and rejected, it may be said that our 
problem is primarily sociological ; in so far as they 
are to be graded and classified in adjustment to 
the child's point of view and ability, it is psycho- 
logical. Having given some statement of the 
actual way in which spelling words have been 
selected, we ought now to be concerned with the 
manner of their arrangement in texts and teach- 
ing. We have then to consider the grading and 
classification of spelling words. 

30 



GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION 

Grading by Number of Syllables 

The first spellers graded words in terms of their 
complexity, by the arbitrary numerical method 
of classifying words according to the number of 
syllables they possess. If the word had a few 
syllables, it was easy; if it had more, it was 
harder. So long as irregular words were excluded 
from such lists, this method of grading did well 
enough. But the pressure of the children's needs 
inevitably tended to introduce words that child- 
ren were using, quite regardless of the fact 
that the correspondence between pronunciation 
and spelling was imperfect. Children would try 
to write the words of their ordinary speech, and 
these came into spelling lists slowly but surely. 
The appearance of such irregular words at once 
exposed the fallacy of grading merely by syllabic 
length. An irregular word of three syllables 
might be more difficult than a regular word of 
five. And the observant teacher must have no- 
ticed frequently that a child, wishing to spell an 
irregular word useful to him, might learn it more 
readily than he would a regular word, imposed 
3i 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

on him by the spelling book, when he did not 
know its meaning and consequently felt no spon- 
taneous need for its use. 

New Bases of Classification 

The result was that two new bases of classifi- 
cation tended to supersede the old syllabic grada- 
tions. In increasing degree words were classified 
(i) by their common structural or phonetic ele- 
ments, and (2) by their association through mean- 
ing or use. The first basis of classification is illus- 
trated where words having a common sound are 
grouped within a single lesson. The second basis 
is exemplified where the lesson is made up of the 
specific names of objects belonging to the same 
general class. 

Classifications by Structure 

The first of these bases of classification seems 
to hold priority in the development of spellers. 
This might well be expected, since grading by 
syllables is a structural classification of a some- 
what simple sort. It gave an impetus to the 
grouping of words by phonetic structure. The 
32 



GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION 

introduction of needed irregular words only re- 
fined and differentiated the classification by pho- 
netic structure. Words were grouped on the basis 
of common sound elements — vowel, consonant, 
diphthong, or digraph. Thus words were put in 
the same group when they contained a letter a 
which has the sound of Italian a (hark, palm). 
Again words were put together on the basis of 
sound equivalence regardless of the varied spell- 
ing of the classifying sound {dairy, day, great, 
inveigh, they, gauge, gaol, aye). On the same 
principle homonyms were taught together (their, 
there ; too, two, to). 

The principle of classification by common sound 
structure finds its most recent and enthusiastic 
revival in the grouping of words by common pho- 
nograms (action, fashion, region ; enough, rough; 
fight, light, sight ; urbanity, humanity, sanity). 
Such grouping of common regular elements in 
words is a modern substitute for the older method 
of syllabication. 

Classifications by Meaning or Use 
The second basis of classification is not so 
33 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

formal, as it is concerned with the association of 
words through their meanings or uses. It is a 
very common practice of spelling books to group 
words standing for particular things within a 
general class. Thus, polo, tennis, and golf would 
be classified together under athletic games, and 
drum, fife, and bugle under musical instruments. 
The study of groups of synonyms {blame, cen- 
sure, convict, denounce) and of pairs of antonyms 
{ratify, abrogate ; conquer, surrender) are arrange- 
ments made upon the basis of meaning. Less 
frequently, words are classified according to their 
uses, as when the entire lesson consists of adjec- 
tives, nouns, or participles. Here the grammati- 
cal use suggests the meaning only in a very 
broad and vague way. These classifications in 
terms of meaning and use represent the first at- 
tempts to get content into isolated spelling words 
by natural association. Later words were given 
meaning by formal definitions. The most modern 
grouping of words by meaning and use is the 
spelling of words in the context of sentences and 
paragraphs. Here the words assigned for a first 
spelling lesson appear in their normal context 
34 



GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION 

and grammatical use as parts of interesting sen- 
tences. Spelling from dictation or in spontaneous 
composition is the last arrangement of spelling 
words in terms of meaning and use. 

Classifications upon Both Bases 

There are many classifications of spelling 
words which do not fall completely under either 
of the types mentioned. They represent classi- 
fications upon mixed bases, taking into account 
both structure and meaning. Sometimes one 
factor or the other plays the more important 
part, both being present. Thus, classifications of 
words by common prefixes {improper, impolite), 
common suffixes (audible, visible), or common 
stems (export, portable) suggest common meaning 
and structure by virtue of their similar derivation. 
When singular and plural, masculine and femi- 
nine, nominative and possessive forms are studied 
in relation to each other, we have similar cases. 
They carry an association through meaning in 
order to focus attention on the variation in form. 
The same is true when words and their abbrevi- 
ations or contractions are studied. 
35 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Thus from simple alphabetical spelling, syllab- 
ication, and the verbal definition of words, 
our grading and classification of spelling words 
have gradually passed to more varied methods 
of grouping in terms of meaning and use. The 
bases of grading and classification in use are 
now many. Frequently they represent mere du- 
plication of means, but more often they add to 
the richness of our teaching methods, one device 
supplementing another. 



VI 

ASSOCIATING MEANING, PRONUNCIATION, 
AND SPELLING 

The Three Factors to be associated 

Ability to spell includes more than the power 
to recite the letters composing a given word in 
their conventionalized order. It involves an ac- 
curate command of that fact in connection with 
two others, namely, meaning and pronunciation. 
A word is never well taught unless some time 
within a spelling period, or a series of periods, 
the teacher makes certain that the pupil has (i) 
its meaning, (2) its pronunciation, and (3) its 
spelling. And these three factors must of course 
be known in full and appropriate association. 

It is altogether possible that the teacher may 
not have to develop each of these factors. The 
word may have been learned elsewhere and have 
become part of the child's oral vocabulary, — 
which is to say that the child has already associ- 
ated its meaning and its pronunciation but not 
37 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

its written form. But the conscientious teacher 
cannot assume that this is true. He must test 
the fact. The failure to do this registers itself 
most conspicuously in the poor results obtained 
with children of foreign birth, who have not the 
English speaking child's oral basis. If the child 
knows the word for the purposes of speech, then 
the teacher has only to develop the order of let- 
ters composing the written symbol, and to asso- 
ciate that fact with the meaning and pronuncia- 
tion already acquired. If the child does not 
know the word at all, then the teacher must be- 
gin his work at the foundation, and (i) develop 
the meaning of the word through experiences 
of active, objective, or other intellectual kind, 
(2) make sure that the pronunciation is thoroughly 
acquired as a by-product of this first activity, and 
then (3) develop the proper spelling in association 
with the word's meaning and sound. Only by a 
firm insistence upon the inclusion of each of 
the three factors within the teaching procedure 
can we make our instruction in spelling compe- 
tent. 



38 



METHODS OF ASSOCIATION 

Formal Work neglects Meanings 

Too often in the past, when spelling was re- 
garded as a formal subject, pronunciation and 
spelling have been associated to the neglect of 
the meaning of the words taught. The develop- 
ment of alphabetic, phonetic, syllabic, and phon- 
ogrammic methods of teaching words, along 
with other devices of classification or procedure 
which emphasize the relation of sound structure 
to sight structure, tends to subordinate the use 
and the significance of the words, if it does not 
omit them altogether. Too much emphasis on the 
mechanics of spelling makes the instruction for- 
mal precisely because it isolates these sound 
and visual forms from the meanings and uses of 
the word. 

The Newer Methods correct this Neglect 

In so far as the newer methods of teaching 
spelling avoid overstressing the formal structures 
of words and treat in the largest possible units, 
the tendency toward a false emphasis is de- 
creased. Syllabic and phonogrammic spelling of 
39 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

regular words seems better than a phonetic let- 
ter treatment. )And dealing with irregular words 
as wholes, to be learned without subdivision, 
moves in the same direction. 

The reform is more than negative and correct- 
ive, however, for many of the present methods 
of teaching are calculated to enhance the con- 
tent side of spelling. Supplementing list-spelling 
with contextual spelling, and the definition of 
words with actual experiences in the use of 
words are instances in point. A similar result 
is accomplished by the recent insistence on con- 
versational and other oral work as an introductory 
basis for formal spelling. 

Inadequate Presentation of Essential Factors 

Many of the traditional methods having a 
widespread present acceptance are supposed to 
present the appropriate meaning, pronunciation, 
and spelling, when in reality some inadequate 
substitute is given in their stead. Three illustra- 
tions will suffice to make the criticism clear, 
without encroaching on the more detailed dis- 
cussions which follow. 

40 



METHODS OF ASSOCIATION 

It is frequently the case that teachers give 
children a definition of a word, assuming that by 
that act they have acquainted the child with its 
significance and use in a dynamic way. The child 
may merely memorize the words of definition as 
an addition to the memorized order of letters, 
and the slovenly acceptance of an apparently 
proper use of the word in a sentence (which is 
often ambiguous) fails to show the defect of the 
original teaching. 

In the case of pronunciation, failure of this 
sort is less likely to occur, because classroom 
exercises are so largely oral that improper pro- 
nunciations may quickly be found out and cor- 
rected, even if badly taught. The exclusive use 
of written spelling from dictation by the teacher, 
while making some provision for the presence 
of the spoken word, may not do so in sufficient 
degree. We know how often in life we understand 
a spoken word that we ourselves cannot pronounce. 
The teacher must not assume that the child 
knows how to pronounce a word merely because 
he has appreciated its meaning and written it 
correctly. Some oral response upon the part of 
41 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

the children themselves should be provided. Our 
tests are too frequently written. The old-fashioned 
spelling matches and other oral recitations (where 
the word is pronounced before and after spelling) 
have a marked advantage over some newer modes 
of written instruction. 

If the use of oral spelling with pronunciation 
has the advantage of guaranteeing the right sound 
interpretation, its exclusive use is defective as a 
means of conveying context. Perfect oral spell- 
ing of unrelated words in lists, one of the old- 
style ways of teaching, does not assure us that 
the child will spell the same words perfectly in 
his spontaneous written compositions. Oral letter 
spelling is primarily an association of sound with 
the motor activity of the throat ; written spellingis 
mainly an association of a visual whole with cer- 
tain muscular activities of the hand. They may or 
may not imply each other. Again, words in iso- 
lation, spelled correctly with full attention upon 
them, may be misspelled under the distractions 
of real written expression, where the pupil's 
thought, not his spelling technique, is the main 
thing in his mind. 

42 



METHODS OF ASSOCIATION 

The Need of Skepticism as to Special Methods 

Teachers need to be cautious in assuming that 
a given exercise in spelling has developed mean- 
ing, pronunciation, and spelling in a real way. 
Each special method mentioned above probably 
has its advantages, but its disadvantages are also 
obvious to any one who will make a close analysis. 
It is improbable that any one means of teaching 
spelling will be adequate. We need to be suspi- 
cious of systems based on one idea, here as else- 
where. It is far more probable, upon the basis of 
what we already know from analysis, without the 
more incisive aid of experimental investigation, 
that many methods will be required in order that 
the weakness of any single mode of instruction 
may be corrected. At any rate, teachers should 
be skeptical of the loose assumptions of both 
traditionalists and reformers, and insist upon a 
close examination of the fitness of teaching 
means to attain specific pedagogical ends. 

The Proper Sequence of Association 
It is not enough to have each factor properly 
43 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

developed by itself and then related to every 
other. Use establishes an efficient sequence for 
the associations acquired in the spelling period. 
The normal sequence employed by a first or sec- 
ond grade child when spelling a word would be 
to proceed from the sense of the situation to its 
oral expression, and then to its written expres- 
sion. Of course no such slow, orderly succession 
of stages is apparent, but something of this order 
of procedure is characteristic of the quickest as- 
sociations. Lessons in spelling often do fix these 
associations in an opposite and unnatural order. It 
is not unusual to see children copying meaning- 
less words from the blackboard, repeating their 
pronunciations after the teacher, and discussing 
their definitions with him. One textbook writer 
approximates, though he does not fully fulfill, 
this distorted order when he says that the best 
sequence in which to teach spelling is as follows : 
(i) Pronounce the word ; (2) spell it both by let- 
ter and by word ; (3) discuss the meaning ; and 
(4) use the word in a sentence. 

Of course the teacher may for convenience 
take up the various factors in spelling in differ- 
44 



METHODS OF ASSOCIATION 

ent orders for special and transient purposes of 
his own. But he is bound to correct and supple- 
ment them, and finally to leave a total impres- 
sion with the child which is normal to his uses. 

The Method of Multiple Association 

But such concrete practices as have been cited 
are probably great improvements over the older 
teaching. There was no real order of activities 
in the older teaching because it merely repeated 
the oral or written spelling throughout the re- 
citation period. The gain of modern teaching is 
found in the fact that it takes more versatile care 
of all the factors involved in accurate spelling 
within a short space of time, within a single re- 
citation, and even within a unit of movement in 
the class exercise. One thing is certain, modern 
teaching is richer in the associations it brings to 
spelling. It not only teaches a fact but it does it 
in many vital ways. It uses the principle of " mul- 
tiple association." It develops the meaning 
through definition, the context of written sen- 
tences, discussion, and the personal experience 
of action and observation. It utilizes every chan- 
45 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

nel of appreciation and expression in associating 
the form of the spoken and written word ; the 
ears hear, the eyes see, the voice mimics, and 
the hand copies the form of the word — all with- 
in the minute or two involved in the first pre- 
sentation of a new word. Fullness of association, 
richness of connotation characterize the child's 
possession of the newly learned word. 

In no other aspect of spelling instruction has 
there been more improvement than in the methods 
employed to associate the three necessary factors 
of meaning, pronunciation, and spelling. The 
improvement is largely one of enriched resources. 
It cannot be said as yet that the average practi- 
tioner makes a discriminating use of them. At 
present he is likely to be confused by the num- 
erous and complicated means at his disposal. Nev- 
ertheless the wide range of methods we now have 
has already (i) given a fairer emphasis to each of 
the factors essential to good spelling ; (2) devel- 
oped more useful ways of comprehending them ; 
and (3) fixed them through vital and numerous 
associations. 



VII 

TEACHING THE MEANING OF WORDS 

As spelling has improved in its methods of teach- 
ing, it has steadily given a larger place to the 
development of the meaning of words within the 
spelling exercise. A progressive teacher of the 
present day will have as much vital experience for 
the child in spelling as in geography or history. 

Dependence of Early Methods upon an 
Oral Vocabulary 

In the beginning, the pedagogical practice of 
the spelling period assumed that the child already 
had the word to be spelled in his speech. And 
the assumption was approximately true as long 
as spelling was dominated by the traditions which 
made it an activity closely connected with writ- 
ing and reading. The written exercise called for 
meanings and words the pupil possessed in all 
respects save in the ability to spell. The reading 
exercise developed the meaning and pronuncia- 
47 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

tion, leaving the writing of the visual symbol to 
the spelling period. If this tradition and practice 
had endured, the failure of formal spelling would 
not have become apparent so soon. But two causes 
operated to increase and reveal the inefficiency 
of formal spelling. One was the change in spell- 
ing vocabularies ; the other was the growing het- 
erogeneity of the school population. 

Causes operating to force Content into the 
Spelling Period 

It has already been noted that, with the ap- 
pearance of special spelling books, spelling de- 
tached itself from reading and writing and became 
an independent school subject. The spellers be- 
came a collection of dictionary lists, and words 
were taught which had little to do with the child's 
personal or school needs. In consequence he was 
put at the acquisition of spelling words that were 
not within his oral vocabulary, and he tended to 
learn them superficially because the spelling pe- 
riod gave practically none of its time to developing 
a content and oral basis for the spelling of words. 

The growing heterogeneity of the American 

4 8 



THE MEANING OF WORDS 

school population had precisely the same effect, 
but it operated from the opposite direction. With 
many children of foreign birth or descent enter- 
ing the schools, it was less easy to count upon 
a common vocabulary of spoken English among 
school children. Even the American-born popu- 
lation, stratified by the growth of cities and the 
economic and social differentiation of the people, 
came to school with fewer common experiences 
and words. As geographic locations, economic 
and social situations, and nationality affiliations 
became more varied, the oral vocabularies of 
young children, largely the outcome of their 
social environment, became exceedingly varied. 
Thus less reliance than before could be placed 
on methods of formal instruction which assumed 
a common experience and speech. 

The total effect of both causes was to reveal 
the need to supply an increased basis in content 
and speech within the spelling period. The spell- 
ers themselves show the change. Classification 
of words by meanings, the appearance of defini- 
tions and sentences, are the responses which 
early authors made. 

49 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

The More Recent Attempts to give Meaning to 
Words 

But the modern writer of texts has carried 
the response much further, and the progressive' 
teacher has gone far beyond the existing texts 
in his attempts to develop the meanings of 
words. 

In a sense the first method by which school 
children got the meaning of new words was the 
contextual method. This was true when spelling 
was a part of reading, and children got the im- 
port of words by themselves without any con- 
scious instruction by the teacher. Getting the 
meaning through context at this period was 
scarcely a method in the sense in which we here 
use the term, that is, as professional technique 
consciously devised as means to an end. Prob- 
ably the first important conscious attempts of 
the spellers to develop meaning were connected 
with the use of definitions. The method, of 
course, was synonymic, — a word, phrase, or sen- 
tence equivalent being used. Of course, in prac- 
tice the discriminating teacher supplemented the 
50 



THE MEANING OF WORDS 

definition (given orally by the teacher or pre- 
sented in the book) by giving examples of its 
use, wherein the word's setting made the mean- 
ing clear. The texts attempted to supplement 
the definitions by adding sentences containing 
the words. In the latest works the sentences are 
themselves placed in paragraph setting. At first 
these sentences were as mechanical and as un- 
natural as the first sentences in reading primers. 
They were artless inclusions of the words given 
in the spelling lists. This is particularly true 
whenever the word lists are classified upon a 
phonetic basis. Then the sentences are made 
accessory after the fact of selection. But in the 
spellers which classify mainly by thought asso- 
ciation, the sentences and paragraphs are acces- 
sory before the compilation of the columns of 
words, and hence are more likely to have an ap- 
pealing content and a natural construction. This 
contextual material, following the trend of later 
reading books, is more and more selected from 
interesting literary material. The prose selection 
and the poetic memory gem are now of frequent 
occurrence in spellers. Some spellers are as rich 
5i 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

in content as the best language books, and, in 
relation to the amount of formal work to be car- 
ried on, provide a relatively broad basis. 

Many of the best spellers which add content 
to the word lists do so by adding rather than by 
both prefacing and adding sentences which em- 
ploy the word. The limited space of a text which 
compels some omission gives them a choice of 
two evils. Hence, they leave it to the teacher to 
lay a foundation that insures the meaning of the 
word. The characteristic practice even among 
the best books is to have the word followed by 
a sentence including it, or by the original para- 
graph or verse from which the word has been 
taken. Very few books present the sentence or 
paragraph first and the word or lists of words 
later. As the order in the book very generally 
determines the way the child attacks his spell 
ing, the teacher should be cautious to develop 
the meaning of words contextually before turn- 
ing to the text. 

The average teacher is really far more open 
to intelligent suggestion than the ordinary text- 
book-maker, and many progressive classroom in- 
$2 



THE MEANING OF WORDS 

structors who refuse to use the speller slavishly 
are doing much to increase its effectiveness. But 
the textbook's conservatism frequently gets in 
the way of normal influences making for pro- 
gress within the school itself. A case in point 
may be cited. With the youngest children, be- 
fore any spelling work is used, the teachers pre- 
sent the meaning of words through direct sense 
experience by utilizing the children's activities 
as a basis; thus games, "action work," objects, 
and pictures are some of the concrete bases used 
in the first spelling lessons. Such methods too 
often cease suddenly with the appearance of the 
speller in the second and third grades. The text- 
book in spelling cannot provide objective demon- 
strations effectively and it rarely offers an ade- 
quate substitute in the form of pictures. It is 
somewhat curious that the illustration, which is 
the textbook writer's substitute for objective 
work in all the other school subjects, should be 
used so slightly in spellers, at least through the 
first few grades. This neglect of pictures is pe- 
culiar to the speller. Pictures could be used with 
effectiveness here exactly as they are in readers 
53 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

and language books. But convention seems to 
have decreed a low-priced speller in which the 
additional cost of adequate illustration is not 
financially feasible. In time we may hope for 
illustrated spellers. But there would be little 
gain if pictures were used with no better judg- 
ment than is displayed in current texts in other 
subjects. 



VIII 

TEACHING THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 

How the Problem of Pronunciation enters 

So long as the words taught in spelling are those 
the children use, there is no problem of pronun- 
ciation except to correct such mispronunciations 
as have stolen into their vocabularies. Some- 
where in the normal course of their daily lives, 
in school and out, the children have gained an 
experience along with the oral symbol which 
stands for it. The problem of teaching pronun- 
ciation in the spelling period arises out of the 
fact that many words are first presented to the 
child in the written or printed form. He is called 
upon to learn the technique of their spelling 
without knowledge of their sound or their con- 
notation. Hence the need to teach the pronun- 
ciation of unknown words is a demand arising 
from an abnormal situation, one which is not al- 
together avoidable in the school. 
55 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

The Artificial Intimacy between Pronunciation 
and Spelling 

The traditional way of handling such a situa- 
tion was to gain the pronunciation as a by-pro- 
duct of learning to spell the word. Thus instead 
of getting the experience and the spoken word 
together, in the manner normal to children and 
men, the school coupled spelling and pronuncia- 
tion, and neglected to pay due attention to the 
third element, the basic experience which gives 
it meaning. This is well demonstrated by the 
contemporaneous spellers of the more traditional 
sort. These lay their greatest emphasis upon the 
machinery for translating sounds into spellings, 
and spellings into sounds ; sounds are changed 
into spellings when the words are already in the 
speech of the child ; spellings are translated into 
sounds when the words are those the child sees 
for the first time in print. The prominent place 
of diacritical marks, the classification of words 
by common sound, and the division of words into 
syllables or phonograms are indicative of the fact 
that the basis for learning words was shifted 

56 



THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 

from a natural alliance of pronunciation and ex- 
perience, to an artificial alliance of pronunciation 
and spelling, which might or might not be ac- 
cessory to learning the meaning. At any rate 
meanings were subordinated in the teaching pro- 
cess. If given at all, they were presented in some 
incidental and inadequate way. The whole situa- 
tion is a reversal of the normal situation, a clear 
case of putting the cart before the horse. 

Restoring the Natural Relation between 
Pronunciation and Meaning 

The practical teacher with psychological in- 
sight accepts the inevitable fact that children 
are bound to meet new words for the first time 
in written or printed form. He has no serious 
quarrel with the proposition that spelling words 
cannot always be taken from the child's devel- 
oping experience and speech, as these enlarge 
in the other class exercises and out of school. 
But he does not allow this accident of school ad- 
ministration to determine the starting-point and 
the mode of his teaching. He foresees the fact, 
and leads the child up to the spelling by exer- 
57 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

cises which give an empirical and an oral basis, 
which is merely to say that when basic experi- 
ences or oral uses have not been provided for 
the child in the normal course of events, the 
teacher provides them in the spelling period. 
This explains why the spelling period in the 
best of the modern classrooms is no longer pre- 
eminently a formal and meaningless translation 
of sight symbols into sound symbols, and vice 
versa ; but a natural and interesting exercise in 
which plays, dramatizations, objects, pictures, 
and conversations are characteristic instruments 
in approaching the spelling of words. The teacher 
has simply made his teaching natural to life in 
spite of the fact that he is confronted with an 
artificial situation. The whole consequence of 
such change in the spirit of spelling instruction 
is not at once obvious. But close analysis of 
recent tendencies indicates the result in detail. 

Three Modes of getting Pronunciation 

There are three general modes through which 
the child may get the pronunciation of such 
words as enter his life through the spelling 
58 



THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 

period, (i) He may obtain it by imitation of a 
sound model, through the speech of his teacher, 
or his fellow students. (2) He may obtain it 
through direct phonetic translation of the letters 
in the word, that is, by means of such conven- 
tional and artificial devices as diacritics, syllabi- 
cation, and phonograms, or through the analogies 
in form between the words he can pronounce 
and the new word which he cannot. (3) He may 
utilize both the methods just mentioned, adding 
such additional techniques as are needed to get 
the pronunciation from the dictionary. 

The Emphasis of Progressive Practice 

Whereas the teacher of a few decades ago, so 
far as conscious efforts were concerned, used 
the second method almost exclusively, the more 
progressive teacher of to-day lays the main 
stress on the first method. The younger the 
children the greater is the stress on oral imitation. 
The amount of phonetic translation has very 
generally decreased, and the burden of it, when 
it is used at all, comes on the oldest, not the 
youngest pupils. In giving children immediate 
59 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

power over the pronunciation of words, the 
method of example and imitation practically 
supplants that of artificial phonetic translation. 
The latter method enters the class exercise con- 
spicuously as preparation for consulting the dic- 
tionary, an activity which aims not at immediate 
acquisition, but at giving the child the ability to 
handle new sounds outside the classroom, par- 
ticularly in after life. 

Some Specific Reforms 

A still further change is registered in the way 
in which certain modes of phonetic translation 
are favored and others subordinated. If diacriti- 
cal marks are used, the children themselves mark 
them less and read them more. The movement 
is distinctly away from the use of diacritical 
marks in spelling. Syllabication, as compared 
with phonetic letter spelling, grows into a rela- 
tively large use. The phonogrammic division 
of words (f-ield, sh-ield ; man-linesSy love-liness) 
/'which forces the recognition of larger and more 
normal sound units, crowds out both diacritical 
mark and syllable. Words are less often sepa- 
60 



THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 

rated into their sound units on the printed page ; 
the division is left to the child's natural apper- 
ception, which comes through analogy with 
words he knows or is suggested by a list of 
words that repeat the same phonogram, syllable, 
or letter. Irregular words are less often divided ; 
they are treated as sound and spelling wholes. 

The Case of the Phonogram 

The growth in pedagogical popularity of the 
phonogram is symptomatic of a general move- 
ment away from artificiality toward approximate 
naturalness. The phonogram is a device which 
is reforming the method of sight-sound transla- 
tion, the most formal and traditional of the three 
modes of teaching children pronunciation. A 
detailed analysis of the claims made for the 
superiority of the phonogram as a mechanical 
unit in phonetic translation explains its sudden 
and large growth in educational practice. At the 
pain of repetition these claims are summarized. 

Advantages of the Phonogram 

The advantages claimed for the phonogram 
61 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

are many. In the first place it provides a larger 
unit for the division and identification of new 
words than any other method of phonetic trans- 
lation, thus reducing the amount of artificial 
manipulation of words. In this respect it is far su- 
perior to alphabetic and phonetic letter spellings. 
It induces even larger divisions than the syllable. 
To be sure, the phonogrammic method may 
divide words of one syllable (c-an, /-an, r-an), but 
practically everywhere else it leads to larger 
sound units (nim-bleness, hum-bleness ; gr-ievous- 
nesSy misch-ievousness). It is superior to the 
syllable in another respect, namely, that it sepa- 
rates words on the basis of their sound division 
regardless of philological derivation or the con- 
ventionalized and arbitrary (from the standpoint 
of sound) divisions of dictionary syllabification. 
It is a more flexible mode of attack on a word, 
taking account of individuality and maturity in 
children. In the case of the word relationship, 
one child, depending on the known units or 
words that happen to be suggested in his attempt 
at analogical interpretation, might divide the 
word thus — re-la-tion-ship ; and another thus 
62 



THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 

— relation-ship. A very young child just begin- 
ning might see it as re-la-tion-sh-ip ; but a child 
with a knowledge of more and larger words 
would see it as relation-ship. Irregular words, 
too complicated to be broken up, are treated as 
phonogrammic units or wholes (thorough), and 
thus the main bugbears of phonetic-letter trans- 
lation are avoided. The phonogram as gener- 
ally used avoids all artificial markings, such as 
diacritics and accents, so that the child from the 
beginning sees the word as it will be read or 
spelled in normal use. Even the division of < 
words by dashes is being discontinued. Every 
one of these advantages makes toward a de- 
crease of artificiality. 

Whether our critical estimate focuses upon 
radical changes or upon the modifications of 
small details, the result is the same. The modern 
teaching of pronunciation shows a growing nat- 
uralism in its methods. 



IX 

TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

The Central Problem in Spelling 

To get the child to write the letters of the word 
in their proper conventional order is the central 
problem in the school subject of spelling. As a 
discipline, it was present in school long before 
the independent subject of spelling appeared. 
It was there as an activity subordinate to other 
studies. As one cannot write compositions with- 
out knowing how to spell, spelling was a tech- 
nique acquired along with writing or written ex- 
pression. It was the earliest of the historic posi- 
tions occupied by the spelling discipline. Later, 
when an alphabetic method became the chief 
means of teaching reading to beginners, learn- 
ing the order of letters in a word became an 
incidental increment in the mastery of the 
mechanics of reading. Later still, spelling was 
divorced from reading and became a subject by 
itself and, like grammar which had divorced itself 

6 4 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

from written composition, it came to have formal 
ends and methods of its own. 

Its Isolation made Spelling Formal 

It was the transfer of this central problem 
from a subordinate to an independent exercise, 
which led to a narrow and isolated method of 
handling spelling difficulties. For many decades, 
an attempt was made to teach the order of let- 
ters without regard to the meanings and situa- 
tions with which spelling was always associated 
in normal usage. This unwholesome way of teach- 
ing the subject made it a dull and formal study, 
which had to be enforced by the powerful but 
extraneous motives of emulation, which in turn 
were reinforced by monotonous drills. 

Reform has succeeded mainly through attacking 
this Isolation 

For a century the educational reformers have 
pitted themselves against the traditions fixed in 
that long period when teachers tried to teach 
children to spell by reciting the letters in order — 
and nothing more! Their major successes have 

65 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

always been the product of some correction of 
the false view that children could be taught to 
spell words j ust by letter-spelling. Spelling meth- 
ods have been fundamentally reformed just to 
the extent that teachers have restored mere 
spelling to its normal setting and function, and 
brought into the spelling exercise the other fac- 
tors to which the written order of letters is func- 
tionally related. Once mere spelling was the 
isolated recital of the letters of a word in their 
given order ; now the reformer has made it an 
interesting exercise in composition where careful 
attention is given to formal difficulties in a vital 
and wholesome way. 

The Special Technique of Mastering the Order 
of Letters 

We have already indicated how all the elements 
of good spelling, — meaning, pronunciation, and 
written order of letters — are being associated 
in wholesome functional ways. We have indi- 
cated, too, how meanings and pronunciations as 
separate elements are developed within the spell- 
ing lesson. It remains for us to suggest the 
66 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

special methods employed in mastering the third 
and ultimate element in the complete association, 
namely, the mastery of the written order of letters. 

Oral Spelling 

Perhaps the main method employed in the 
past to master the order of written symbols is 
"oral spelling." In the method of oral spelling 
the child always had to master the alphabet- 
names and symbols as a basis. The child in need 
of a word for written expression might attempt 
to translate his own pronunciation into letters, 
but, if baffled or puzzled, the likelihood is that 
he would be given the order of letters orally 
without any presentation of the written or printed 
form. In consequence, if told to prepare a formal 
lesson in spelling, the child made his attack 
through oral spelling, i.e., he looked at the book, 
blackboard, or other copy, recognized the letters 
and called their names off in order, drilling on 
the same. 

The Emphasis on Sound Elements 
Little emphasis was placed on careful visual- 

6 7 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

ization and copying. The emphasis was upon an 
oral method of mastery and upon a perfection of 
oral rendition. The spelling match, which was 
the institution that set the standard for spelling 
ability through many decades, suggests the ele- 
ments stressed and the normal manner of teach- 
ing them. The final skill toward which spelling 
study inevitably tended was oral letter-spelling. 
The word was pronounced to the child. On the 
basis of that pronunciation, the word was repro- 
nounced, letter-spelled, and pronounced again. 
The entire emphasis was on the oral rather 
than on the visual side — on sound form and oral 
letter-spelling rather than on visualizing and 
writing the words correctly. 

Phonetic Translation arises from Oral Spelling 

The close association of oral letter-spelling 
with pronunciation was influential in introducing 
and perpetuating another typical method, that 
of translating pronunciation into letters. This is 
the normal method by which children carry the 
words of their speech into writing, and therefore 
into the more artificial forms of oral letter-spell- 
68 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

ing. But even where the words are outside the 
oral vocabulary of the child, which is increasingly 
the case as he goes up the grades, the spelling 
match and other oral spelling devices made pro- 
nunciation the starting point for spellings. Be- 
cause the final test of good spelling was an oral 
rendering, the child learned to name the letter 
order in connection with pronunciation. This 
connection led to the development of phonetic 
translation as a mode of teaching and learning. 

The Method of Phonetic Translation 

All phonetic methods, whether alphabetic, 
syllabic, or phonogrammic, rely upon giving the 
child ability to convert the elements of sound 
into letters or groups of letters which symbolize 
them. They have this in common, — that they 
depend upon sound translation. They are dif- 
ferent from each other because they use different 
units of sound and visualization. In varying de- 
gree they have a common strength and weak- 
ness. The limitations of such sound translation 
are obvious to any one who will take a critical 
view. 

6 9 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Its Defective Assumption of Pronunciation 

(i) In the first place the method assumes that 
the child has a perfect command over the pro- 
nunciation, which is to be his basis for transla- 
tion. If he translates a mispronunciation, the 
spelling is bound to be wrong. The teacher can 
assume considerable efficiency in sound trans- 
lation only where the spelling words taught are 
taken from the oral vocabularies of children who 
pronounce correctly, i.e., in the lowest grades 
of a school the children of which are drawn from 
a cultured English-speaking population. If catch 
is pronounced ketch, and going is called goin, it 
is probable that mere sound translation will lead 
to defective spelling. As soon as the higher 
grades are reached, and the words selected from 
the spelling exercises are taken less from the 
small spoken vocabulary and more from large 
written vocabularies, there is no guarantee that 
sound will be a guidance. The child may desire 
to use a word the meaning of which he has gotten 
from his reading, and the pronunciation of which 
is not certain. With a meaning in his mind that 
70 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

he wishes to write and no pronunciation, the 
teacher's problem is to give him a definite notion 
of the form of the word, of the way it looks 
when written. The apparent need of such a 
type of work has led to the introduction of the 
many devices that we class as " methods of vis- 
ualization." 

The Probability of Inaccurate Translation 

(2) The method of sound translation has an 
additional defect in that the limited alphabet with 
which we write the English language has not so 
many distinct symbols as sounds. Having the 
pronunciation, the child must separate the word 
into sound elements (not a simple and easy mat- 
ter always), and then find the appropriate symbol 
for each element. A sound may .sometimes be 
expressed by one letter, sometimes by another, 
sometimes by two or three letters. A given 
vowel, for instance, may have a number of val- 
ues, some of which approximate one of the numer- 
ous values of another vowel. All these possibili- 
ties decrease the efficiency of any method which 
aims to give the child the order of letters from 
7i 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING , 

the order of sounds. This second difficulty rein- 
forces the need of depending on visualization 
and the muscular memory which comes through 
writing words. 

The Breakdown of Translation in Irregular 
Spellings 

(3) Phonetic translation breaks down more or 
less completely when the child is confronted by 
the irregular spellings of the English language. 
Here phonetic translation gives the child a to- 
tally wrong first impression, which is effaced only 
with great effort by the teacher. Silent letters 
are left out ; groups of letters which stand for a 
single sound are not suggested. The teacher 
may avoid such irregular spellings as long as 
possible in the spelling period, but they will enter 
the child's speech and composition. The correla- 
tion between difficulty in spelling and difficulty 
of meaning or pronunciation is slight, and words 
enter into the child's usage largely through their 
appropriateness to his experiences, with extreme 
difficulty of pronunciation as a minor check. In 
the more vital methods of contemporary teach- 
72 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

ing, these irregular words are calling for treat- 
ment as early as the child wishes to use them. 
The old artificial avoidance of spelling irregulari- 
ties through delay could not conceal the weak- 
nesses of phonetic translation as a method. 

The Long Concealment of these Defects 

When one considers that methods of phonetic 
translation have held their dominant position in 
the schools for more than a century and that 
teachers of spelling have given them much at- 
tention, it seems strange that their insuperable 
defects should not have become apparent sooner. 
It has already been suggested that the functional 
organization of modern school life, and the in- 
creased heterogeneity of our school population, 
largely account for our dissatisfaction with spell- 
ing methods. The absence of these factors during 
previous decades made concealment of inefficiency 
easy. But there are additional reasons why the 
method of phonetic translation did not reveal its 
faults. They were partially corrected by other 
methods which teachers of common sense hit 
upon by trial and error, without much knowledge 
73 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

of the psychological conditions and principles 
involved. 

Copying 

One of these methods was that of copying the 
spelling of words and rewriting them many times. 
In its earlier uses such written drills were re- 
garded as a means to oral spelling. Written spell- 
ing and oral spelling occupied an opposite relation 
to that which they naturally hold in life and in 
the more practical and naturalistic teaching of the 
modern progressive school. To-day, oral spelling 
is merely one of many means of approach to ac- 
curate written spelling. Simply because the true 
relation of an oral method to final skill in writing 
words correctly in composition was not perceived, 
this first use of copying was more or less futile 
and wasteful. The children wrote their words 
twenty, thirty, or more times mechanically, tak- 
ing the spelling from the model last written. 
There was little noting of visual peculiarities, 
little associating of form with other elements, 
such as meaning, pronunciation, muscular mem- 
ory for letter combinations, etc. 
74 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

Written Spelling succeeds Oral Spelling 

The focusing of attention on written spelling 
came comparatively late. As a reaction it ex- 
pressed itself in an isolated and extreme way 
just as oral spelling had before it. Children 
learned by writing each assigned word ten times. 
The teacher dictated the words and the children 
wrote them in the spelling blank. The teacher or 
student told off the correct spelling orally and the 
children marked the errors, writing the corrected 
forms ten, fifteen, twenty or more times. Such a 
substitute was not wholly a reaction against an 
older method ; it was partly the product of the 
pressure for time. It is no accident that this 
change from spelling matches and other oral 
spelling recitations comes at the precise period 
when the elementary curriculum is enriched and 
the time schedule greatly crowded. All the chil- 
dren can be tested on all the words at once in a 
written spelling lesson ; the spelling match and 
similar activities had their halcyon days when 
there was less strain upon a teacher's time. 



75 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Developmental Lessons in Spelling 

But spelling was not really taught by such 
means; it was tested and corrected. The devel- 
opmental lesson, as applied to spelling instruc- 
tion, was scarcely known in the day of the spell- 
ing match and the " twenty-five-words-a-day " 
spelling blank. It is the very latest stage in our 
progress. We have already noted in another 
chapter how the developmental lesson appeared 
in modern teaching, carefully presenting each 
element that the child needed to know in such 
a way that the chance of error would be mini- 
mized. Here we are concerned only with the special 
provision made for a careful presentation of the 
order of letters that constitute the written form 
of a word. 

Eye and Ear Tests 

Special classification of words in order to se- 
gregate their difficulties is one device of modern 
teaching which illustrates our discriminating 
methods. Regular words that are capable of direct 
phonetic translation, that is, spelled by sound, 

76 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

are put together in " ear lists " (das h, foot) ; words 
with silent letters or vowels expressed by a 
combination of symbols, where spelling and pro- 
nunciation nearly correspond, are brought into 
"ear-eye lists" (toad, listen); and out and out 
irregular words, ones containing very unusual 
vowel or consonant symbols, where sound analo- 
gies render little assistance, are grouped in eye 
lists for careful visual study and much written 
work (through, vein, ocean). 

It is in connection with such irregular words 
as would be classified in the "eye lists " men- 
tioned, that the modern teacher has been most 
ingenious in inventing teaching devices. The 
versatility of these can only be suggested. 

Methods of Visualization 

In dealing with irregularly spelled words much 
attention has been paid to correct visualization 
on the part of the pupil. To enforce full atten- 
tion, " flash-card " work has been used to compel 
the child to visualize quickly and accurately. The 
teacher exposes for a few seconds a card with 
the desired spelling, and the child writes it down, 
77 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Another modification is for the teacher to write 
the word slowly and distinctly on the blackboard 
and then erase it when done. This has the advan- 
tage that it makes the child perceive the word in 
order of actual writing as well as in full final form. 
Again, irregular portions of troublesome words 
are underscored or written in color to center at- 
tention on the particular part. Long words which 
confuse by their length, are broken up to reveal 
familiar words or other units (child-hood, en- 
feeble-ment). Words with similar combinations 
{cough, enough, rough) are compared. Homonyms 
are carefully compared and differentiated {their, 
there). Mnemonics are used to eliminate confu- 
sions (as when the dome of the structure is asso- 
ciated with the o in capitol to differentiate it from 
capital). Many repeated visualizations, oral spell- 
ings, and writings are given in the case of special 
irregularities. All these varied methods represent 
the resource used by the modern teacher to pre- 
sent and fix proper spellings for the child. 

Print or Script Models 
The whole purpose of such careful efforts at 

78 



TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

visualization is to get the child to see the word 
in its correct form from the beginning and to 
safeguard him in advance against any probable 
misspelling. So careful are some teachers to in- 
sure a correct visual impression from the start 
that they insist that words should be presented 
and mastered from script rather than from print, 
as the average child will write, not print, when 
he spells. Very few texts in spelling have adopted 
the suggestion. It is expensive and against tra- 
dition. It may be, too, that the promised advan- 
tages are not sufficiently large to warrant the 
extra trouble, even though increased efficiency 
were certain. 

On the whole, then, the technique for teach- 
ing the order of letters in spelling has undergone 
revolutionary changes in the last quarter-century. 
The methods of teaching are much more compli- 
cated. Written mastery takes precedence over 
oral spelling. The emphasis has passed from de- 
pendence on regularities between pronunciation 
and spelling to a careful focusing of attention on 
irregular elements in words. Spelling is now 
really taught and studied at school rather than 
79 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

merely tested. Careful presentation of difficulties 
to avoid error, particularly through visualization 
of spelling forms, occupies most of the recitation 
time which formerly was given to the hearing of 
lessons and the correction of errors. 



X 

DEVELOPING THE PUPIL'S INDEPENDENT 
POWER 

Teaching Children to study Supplementary to 
Instruction 

The teacher has more functions than teaching 
a child to know, pronounce and spell a certain 
group of words with persisting accuracy. In addi- 
tion to instructing the child, he must show him 
how to study ; in this case, how to get by him- 
self the meaning, sound, and spelling of words 
that are unfamiliar to him. The teacher may suc- 
cessfully transmit all the words needed by the 
child and required by the course of study, but 
his task is still incomplete. He must train the 
child to solve new spelling difficulties as he will 
meet them in later life outside the school. To 
do this the beginning must be made at school, 
while he is still under the supervision of the 
teacher. 

81 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Four Characteristic Types of Activity 

There are four conspicuous types of work which 
the spelling period assumes in order to give the 
pupil an enlarged power to know and settle his 
own spelling difficulties without the aid of the 
teacher. These are : (i) the use of word-analysis ; 
(2) the application of spelling rules ; (3) the use 
of the dictionary; and (4) the training of the 
child to direct himself in the extension and cor- 
rection of his own vocabulary. Each of these 
will require consideration in turn. 

Word- Analysis 

Twenty years ago word-analysis was a study by 
itself, closely affiliated, however, with spelling. It 
often utilized texts in word-analysis separate from 
the usual speller. Frequently, too, it had a time-as- 
signment of its own in the weekly schedule, either 
completely taking the place of spelling in the 
highest grammar grades or sharing with spelling 
the time usually assigned to the latter subject in 
the various grades. Thus spelling might have 
two periods per week and word-analysis three, or 
82 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

vice versa. The work was formal, as formal as the 
spelling of thirty years ago. Its relation to spelling 
was in controversy much as the relation of gram- 
mar to oral and written composition. So that word- 
analysis, or word-study, as it is now often called, 
went up and down in favor along with formal gram- 
mar and rules for spelling. The same movements 
in pedagogical thought were behind each of them. 

The Reaction against Word- Analysis 

A reaction against word-analysis finally oc- 
curred, and it almost disappeared as a subject- 
heading in courses of study. A few conservatives 
hung on to the title ; others incorporated it as a 
definite part of spelling instruction. Some of the 
texts in spelling which had excluded formal word- 
study now included it in the last chapters, as a 
kind of appended text in word-study. It disap- 
peared from many texts except for casual uses 
of prefixes, suffixes, and stems in exercises scat- 
tered through the book. 

Its Restoration in Spelling 
Of late, however, word-analysis has had a res- 
83 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

toration. It now appears throughout the inter- 
mediate and grammar grades, wearing a less 
formal and forbidding countenance than it once 
had for the child. As though to forget its own 
reputation, it appears under the new names of 
word-study and word-building. It has also lost 
much of its deductive spirit. The child is no 
longer required to memorize lists of prefixes, suf- 
fixes, roots, and definitions, making application 
and use of them at some later hour or day, or 
not at all. As incorporated in the better spellers, 
word-study is conducted in a distinctly inductive 
spirit. When the children have added to their 
vocabularies enough words with a common root, 
prefix, or suffix, the unit of derivation is brought 
into consciousness through comparison, its mean- 
ing established, its derived forms identified, and 
its applications extended. With a chastened spirit 
becoming to it, word-analysis has given up 
its independence and become an accessory to 
the subject of spelling, performing its several 
special services with a modesty appropriate to 
its place. 



84 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

Word-Analysis and Word-Building 

The desire to avoid an old term doubtless had 
something to do with the substitution of such 
phrases as word-study and word-building for 
word-analysis. Yet in present usage they are 
not really equivalents. The reaction which drove 
out the subject was against an activity as well 
as a name. Word-study as a term is variously 
used in spellers. Word-study seems to be the 
more inclusive term, expressing the child's study 
of words both analytically and synthetically. 
Word-analysis emphasizes the analytical aspect 
which separates words into their units of deriva- 
tion; and word-building refers to the opposite 
process where children, having the prefixes, suf- 
fixes, and stems, are trained to construct addi- 
tional derivatives, new to them. Generally the 
two latter processes are subsumed under the term 
word-study, though for the purposes of spelling 
instruction they have a different value. 

The Worth of Word-Study 

The value of word-study, particularly word- 
85 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

analysis, in giving the pupil an enlarged inde- 
pendent power to solve new spelling difficulties, 
must not be measured merely in terms of the 
aid it gives in spelling a word. It was largely 
because of this exclusive standard that the reac- 
tion against word-analysis set in ten or fifteen 
years ago. It was felt that the assistance was 
too slight and too indirect ; that it was better 
to master words outright by direct memorization 
than to arrive at an approximate but uncertain 
conclusion through the encumbrance of many 
explanatory roots and affixes. Our schools were 
then interested mainly in immediate results. 
Mere instruction dominated classroom teaching, 
as the attempt to give children independent 
power by teaching them to study was not yet 
emphasized. Of course it has to be admitted that 
word-analysis sometimes assists spelling directly, 
as when a child about to spell the word Mediter- 
ranean, finds himself in doubt as to whether the 
/ or the r is to be doubled, and gains an imme- 
diate answer through word-analysis. But the de- 
gree to which it assisted was then much in doubt, 
and it was difficult to believe, on the basis of the 
86 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

functions the spelling period then possessed, 
that it was large. 

Nor would the very small aid that word-study 
renders to pronunciation, which as a function is 
now more important in the spelling period than 
before, greatly help the argument for the use of 
word-analysis. Of course the child must attack 
a new word in sound units of some sort. As the 
best units are frequently those which keep true 
to the history of the word, word-analysis does 
aid the pupil to break up a word into convenient 
parts whether these be syllables, or phonograms, 
or combinations of both. But it may be con- 
tended with some show of evidence that every 
such gain in independent power to pronounce 
words, may be got equally well by the method 
of phonogrammic identification which utilizes the 
child's natural tendency to separate new words 
into words and parts of words already known to 
him. The use of syllabication and classification 
upon the basis of similar phonograms, two de- 
vices now much used, must have quickened his 
power to recognize parts of old words in new 
ones. 

87 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

But some word-analysis sanely handled gains 
an enlarged worth the moment two facts are ad- 
mitted : (i) That the responsibility of the spell- 
ing period for developing the meanings of words 
has greatly increased ; and (2) that word-analysis 
materially assists the child in getting the ap- 
proximate meaning of words in normal context, 
when he is away from teacher and dictionary. 
It is not contended that the method of word- 
analysis is an efficient and economical means of 
teaching a child the meaning of a word ; it is 
not. There are a half-dozen better ways. Telling 
him is one. j The value of word-analysis lies in 
the fact that it enlarges the child's power to get 
the meanings of strange words for himself after 
he has left school. 

Such word-study gives a considerable exten- 
sion to the child's power to get the meaning of 
words, but it does not take the place of the dic- 
tionary. The constructed meaning which comes 
through word-analysis merely approximates or 
suggests the signification of the word. This is 
fully recognized by teachers and authors of texts, 
for some of the better treatments not only sepa- 
88 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

rate the word into its derivative parts and give 
the meaning derived from the parts, but they 
follow it with accurate definition and illustrative 
sentences. Accurate dictionary work with much 
application of the meaning in speech and writ- 
ing must be the final supplement of word-study. 
Even efficient dictionary work requires that the 
pupil have some notion of the word's meaning 
and use, for almost every word has several mean- 
ings one of which is to be chosen. 

The Use of Rules 

If the main value of word-analysis lies in sug- 
gesting the meanings of words, the principal 
worth of teaching rules of spelling is to give 
children independent power to spell words that 
are used in changing form, exactly the situation 
where word-analysis helps least or actually con- 
fuses. In progressive practice the teaching of 
rules has gone through about the same modifica- 
tions as word-analysis. It was overdone twenty 
years ago, the reaction against formal deductive 
ways of teaching tending to eliminate it com- 
pletely ; now there is a tendency towards its 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

restoration to a restricted place with a much 
changed emphasis and use. Even a casual com- 
parison of old spellers with new ones reveals the 
conspicuous changes which have occurred in the 
attitude toward the use of spelling rules. 

The Inductive Teaching of Rules 

In the first place spelling rules are now taught 
inductively. When the children have mastered 
enough individual cases to afford a basis for gen- 
eralization, the rule is induced by the child from 
his own knowledge. The better books do not call 
for the memorization of many rules, with numer- 
ous exceptions, followed by a study of more of 
less unfamiliar illustrations. The teacher is quite 
content when the child merely senses the gen- 
eral principle, and refrains from any verbal for- 
mulation of the rule. Some of the better texts 
still print the rules with illustrations, but specifi- 
cally state that they are to be taught inductively. 
But the very statement of the rule, preceding 
the concrete illustrations, must tempt more than 
one old-fashioned teacher to ignore the injunc- 
tion and follow the order of the book. One of 
90 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

the best books escapes this weakness by group- 
ing typical words previously learned under such 
captions as "double the last letter and add er" 
" add less" etc. Each typical series has its typi- 
cal interpretative caption, the rule and its excep- 
tions never being written out. 

The Small Number of Rules used 

In the second place the number of rules taught 
is small. Not more than four or five sets of rules are 
included. Words which do not fall under these are 
studied as individual words, without any refer- 
ence to laws which would indicate their conform- 
ity to type. Thus the burden on the child's memory 
is lightened by a reduced quantity of rules and by 
the vital way in which mastery is induced. 

The Use of the Dictionary 

Training children to a competent and ready 
use of the dictionary and fixing the habit of con- 
sulting it, is one of the main duties that the 
school can perform for the student. The diction- 
ary will take the place of teacher and spelling 
book, once the child has left the school. Without 

QI 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

the impulse to use the dictionary or the ability to 
interpret it, the child is without the capacity for 
making further advances in a definite and accu- 
rate way. The emphasis upon the right use of 
the dictionary cannot be too great, particularly in 
the upper elementary grades. 

The Specific Demand for Dictionary Work 

In general there has never been adequate de- 
mand in our courses of study for teaching the 
child to use the dictionary. It has been assumed 
that somehow in the course of school events, the 
child would pick up this ability. That he does not 
do so has been demonstrated in many cases. 
Some children as high as the fifth and sixth 
grades, owing to the fact that the alphabet is 
no longer learned in beginning reading, are in- 
capable of finding words in the dictionary. Such 
discoveries as these have led to a demand that 
dictionary work be assigned as a specific responsi- 
bility for the teacher. For obvious reasons it has 
been assigned to the subject of spelling, and is 
usually begun in about the fourth grade. 

The care given in teaching pupils to use the 
92 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

dictionary is a contrast to previous slipshod meth- 
ods. It might be well to note how thoroughly 
each step in the process is developed by the 
modern teacher. First, the alphabet is reviewed 
to see if it is well within the child's easy habitual 
command. Then the child is sent to the diction- 
ary to find simple words the spelling of which he 
knows. At first these words have different initials 
to establish the simple principle of alphabetic 
order. Later, words beginning with the same in- 
itials are assigned to show that the initial letter 
alone does not determine the place of a word in 
an alphabetical list. Thus, the principles of alpha- 
betical and sub-alphabetical arrangements are 
mastered. And last, words, the spellings of which 
are doubtful to the child, are given ; and the child 
is taught to scan the pages till he finds them. 
Special exercises are given to show a child how 
the pronunciation {lesser, lessor; least, lest) or 
meaning will assist him to find the word when 
the spelling is in doubt (capitol, capital; litnpit, 
limpid). Special exercises are given to show the 
child how to determine which is the preferred 
spelling when there are two. 
93 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Exercises in finding pronunciation are given in 
the same careful way until each technique is 
taught, — preferred pronunciations, the interpre- 
tation of diacritical marks through the key words 
at the bottom of the page, the meaning of the 
accents, etc. Then the child is drilled until he 
can readily determine the meaning of a word. 
The abbreviations for the parts of speech are ex- 
plained. He is encouraged to read all the mean- 
ings, avoiding those marked " rare," " colloquial," 
or " obsolete," and to select the most likely mean- 
ing with the aid of the examples of usage. No 
child can be carried through such training with- 
out forever after having the power to determine 
the meaning, pronunciation, and spelling of words 
for himself. 

Methods of Self- Cultivation 

But it does not suffice that a child shall be told 
the right way to pronounce or spell a word, or 
that he be shown how to find it for himself. 
Self-growth is dependent upon the development 
of the child's sensitiveness to clashes in usages, 
whether they be in speech or in print. Let a 
94 



DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT POWER 

child be skeptical of his own usage every time he 
sees or hears a conflicting one, and the basis for 
self-cultivation is laid. Then give him the per- 
sistent habit of appealing to a dictionary and he 
will learn the right form. Last, train him to fix 
the spelling, pronunciation, and usage by repeat- 
ing them through every possible channel of as- 
sociation, and he will steadily increase his sponta- 
neous command over words and their functions. 
There is far too little teaching of the child to 
correct, and drill himself in our schools. It needs 
to be done. Isolated teachers have already made 
a start that ought to be imitated by all teachers. 



XI 

TESTING SPELLING 

Testing as an Exclusive Activity 

Several decades ago the spelling period was 
almost completely given over to testing the 
efficiency of the children's spellings. The teacher 
assigned a lesson and the children prepared it at 
home or in a study period at school. The noting 
of spelling errors was thus the major activity of 
the children when under the direct supervision 
of the teacher. Beyond assignment, testing, and 
correcting, little was done. Teaching spelling in 
the sense of giving a careful presentation of 
words so as to guarantee correct first impressions 
of words was scarcely given any emphasis, if, 
indeed, it was given any place at all. 

The Subordination of Testing 

Since then there has been, in the best schools, 
a complete reversal oi* emphasis ; testing as a 
function of the classroom exercise has been sub- 

96 



TESTING SPELLING 

ordinated. Instead of usurping a major portion 
of the time, it has become a step or stage in the 
spelling lesson and no more. The smaller num- 
ber of words taught per day has made this possi- 
ble. The increased emphasis on a careful devel- 
opment of new spelling words, and the tendency 
towards a more careful correction of spelling mis- 
takes have together squeezed the old function 
of examination into a smaller time allotment. 
Traditionally the testing of spelling has taken 
one of two general forms : (i) oral spelling and 
(2) written spelling. Each of these has had a con- 
siderable number of variations. 

Early Emphasis on Oral Spelling 

The early connection of spelling with oral read- 
ing gave emphasis to oral spelling as a form of 
examination. This is attested by the great pop- 
ularity of the spelling match during the period 
when spelling first gained an independent place 
as a subject. In fact, for a long time, teachers 
seem not to be conscious that the final way in 
which a child spells in normal life is through the 
written form. The test of perfect learning gen- 
97 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

erally utilized was the ability to give the names 
of the letters orally in their proper order. 

Its Artificiality 

Such oral rendition was naturally artificial be- 
cause the activity of spelling was not seen in its 
normal function or setting. It stood out of rela- 
tion to its practical uses or to the other school 
subjects. Naturally in the wake of a system which 
emphasized oral rather than visual forms, oral 
renditions rather than the writing process, other 
symptoms of the subject's formalness and arti- 
ficiality appeared. Words were not studied in con- 
text, but in isolation. Hence, if the words included 
within a given day's assignment had any organ- 
ized relation to each other, it was not that of 
common presence in a sentence or paragraph ex- 
pressing a unit of the child's thoughts, but rather 
that of a list of words casually related by some 
unifying principle largely present in the teacher's 
mind, e.g. — a common element of sound con- 
struction {might, fight, right) or a common mem- 
bership under some general name {tools, colors, 
etc.). More frequently the spelling lesson was a 

9 8 



TESTING SPELLING 

list of unrelated words without any pretense of 
relationship. Spelling lists were more or less hap- 
hazard collections of words that the child needed 
and was deemed able to spell at about this point 
in his school career. At first the children prob- 
ably recited spelling, as they did any other sub- 
ject, on the call of the teacher, either at random 
or in some regular order. 

The Appearance of the Spelling Match 

Of course children driven to meet such a test, 
without motive inherent in the activity itself, 
got their stimulation in terms of adventitious 
school honors or escape from school humiliation. 
Pride or fear of a standing in the class marks 
and competition or rivalry with their fellows, 
were the chief sources of motivation. And the 
teacher in the effort to get better results enlarged 
the devices that would support these artificial 
psychological means. The great device evolved 
was the spelling match, with its intense competi- 
tions and high honors. It became the dramatic 
event of class life. When it was extended to in- 
clude class and school competitions the enlarged 
99 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

pressures of group rivalry were placed behind the 
pupil's work. The community became interested, 
and the spelling match of the elementary school 
stirred an interest comparable to the intercollegi- 
ate football struggles of the present day. Even 
the adult members of the community indulged 
themselves in this fascinating test of superiority 
and it became a kind of intellectual town sport. 

Its Shortcomings 

The tracing of the forces which made the spell- 
ing-match test important has already suggested 
its limitations. The oral spelling match still fur- 
ther beclouded the truth that written contextual 
spelling is the only real and final test. It empha- 
sized peculiar and difficult words, little used in 
common life. It focused attention upon the rare 
speller, as keen competition of this sort usually 
does, and neglected the modest needs of the less 
able child. In time all of these defects were per- 
ceived, but the process was a slow one. 

Reaction against the Spelling Match 
Many factors contributed to the reaction against 

100 



TESTING SPELLING 

the spelling-match system. Attention was nec- 
essarily distracted from the subject of spelling 
when new subjects entered the schools. A crowded 
curriculum did not permit of the former extrava- 
gant devotion of energies to spelling, and the 
doctrine of individual teaching dragged the lag- 
gard and the weakling into the teacher's con- 
sciousness. 

Written Tests supersede Oral Recitations 

A return to the older type of oral recitation 
was not possible. It went down with the spelling 
match that superseded it. It was too slow. All 
the children could not be tested in the short time 
allotted. Some more economical method was 
required. It was found in the written spelling 
lessons, where all the children wrote their tests 
from the teacher's dictation. 

Testing by Dictation of Sentences 

At the start these written dictation lessons 
were hardly less formal and artificial than the 
previous oral tests. Spelling was still a test of 
isolated words without context or much stress 

IOI 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

upon meanings. But a better psychology of 
teaching was subordinating the formal subjects 
to the experiential activities of school life. As 
words were more often selected from the chil- 
dren's uses and needs, it was possible to test 
their ability to spell in sentences. Sentence 
dictation superseded, in part at least, the older 
list dictation, or paralleled it as an occasional or 
even constant exercise of the spelling period. 
This tendency has recently grown. And so 
clearheaded have some teachers become that 
they do not regard efficiency in spelling from 
sentence dictation as any more than a very good 
approximate test, for they look to correct spelling 
in spontaneous written expression as the only 
real and final standard. 

The Place of Oral Work 

It must not be implied, however, that there is 
no place for oral spelling and the spelling match 
as modes of testing. The best current practice 
does not eliminate these, but uses them in their 
appropriate places without abuse. With young 
children it is necessary to be certain that the 
102 



TESTING SPELLING 

right first impression has been received, and a 
teacher may quickly test up her developmental 
work by rapid random requests for oral spelling. 
A child's trouble may frequently be revealed to 
the teacher by an oral rendition, when the slower 
method of a written exercise would conceal it. 
A similar sort of reservation needs to be made 
with regard to the spelling match. It has very 
conspicuous limitations as a daily or even as a 
weekly exercise, but it has decided advantages 
as an occasional method of review. It affords a 
stimulating and interesting change of activity 
from written reviews. If properly conducted, it 
can be used as a sharp check against guessing 
at the spelling of words. 

The tendency in the evolution of methods of 
testing children's spelling abilities is marked. It 
moves steadily toward methods which (i) foster 
the use of better motives in learning to spell, 
and (2) measure efficiency in situations which 
are nearest like those of normal use. 



XII 

THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

The Weakness of Previous Corrective Teaching 

The purpose of all testing is to discover the 
spelling mistakes of children. But discovery of 
error necessitates the correction of the fault. 
The older practice of teachers was strong in dis- 
covery and weak in correction. The current 
method of correction usually consisted in sending 
the child back to the correct form, and leaving 
him to discover the technique by which he could 
overcome his difficulty. Usually the child found 
no other technique than the mere repetition of 
oral spelling or the copying of the visual form a 
given number of times. The child exercised no 
ingenuity because he was incapable of diagnos- 
ing his own case ; and the teacher suggested 
none for he was scarcely aware that there was 
more to do than to drill upon the word. Such 
attempts at the correction of children's errors 
were weak chiefly because they were futile. 
104 



THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

The Difference between Original Learning and 
Correction 

Re-learning an old word correctly, after in- 
correct habits have been formed, is vastly differ- 
ent from learning a new word about which the 
child has no misconception. To send the child 
back to the old form to "learn it anew" is not 
the simple matter that is implied. Every teacher 
in his more thoughtful moments knows that the 
path from ignorance to knowledge is easier and 
less complicated than that from error to knowl- 
edge. In one case a habitless child forms a habit ; 
in the other, the pupil must break one habit and 
form a new one through conscious effort. 

Failure to apply the Distinction 

The attitude of recent theorists and contempo- 
raneous writers of textbooks, shows that the dis- 
tinction is by no means applied. This is clearly 
brought out in discussions on the teaching of 
homonyms. One set of authors says that all words 
containing similar elements should be completely 
dissociated, that is, studied one at a time in 
105 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

complete separation from each other. Another 
group of writers states just as emphatically that 
words with similar elements, which inevitably 
lead to confusion, must be brought into conscious- 
ness together, then compared and differentiated. 
Such experiments in comparative teaching as 
have been conducted give evidence that the first 
group has generalized from the teaching of new 
words to young pupils and that the second group 
has derived its principle from the correction of 
errors among older students. Each has made a 
generalization from one situation and falsely 
applied its truth at large. They have not made 
the distinction between proceeding (i) from 
ignorance to knowledge and (2) from error to 
knowledge. 

Normal Stages in our Progress 

Only slowly has this distinction between the 
presentation of new spellings and the correction 
of misspellings been brought to the attention of 
teachers. One might say that the profession at 
large has not yet recognized it. It is not surpris- 
ing that distinctive methods for the correction of 
106 



THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

spelling errors are just beginning to be evolved. 
They could scarcely have appeared sooner, 
since the teaching of spelling, as distinguished 
from the recitation of spelling, is a very recent 
procedure. In the evolution of our spelling 
methods, the periods in our progress are thus 
characterized: (i) In the early period spelling is 
merely tested ; (2) later it is taught and then 
tested; and (3) now it is taught, tested, and 
corrected. 

The Psychology of Presentation applied to 
Correction 

The awakening of the teacher to the idea that 
spelling needs careful primary presentation, just 
as any other subject does, was the basic step in 
suggesting that he must also have a special 
method for correcting misspellings. Much of the 
psychology that underlies good instruction in 
new words is coming to be applied to the cor- 
rection of mistakes. The mere fact that devel- 
opmental teaching and good lesson assignments 
came into existence out of the teacher's desire 
to prevent wrong impressions and false habits, 
107 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

focused the teacher's consciousness upon the 
causes of spelling errors. It was only an addi- 
tional step upon the part of the thoughtful 
teacher to begin to treat misspelling by special 
methods devised for that purpose. 

The Gross Defects of Old Corrective Methods 

Let us look for a moment at the traditional 
methods employed for the correction of errors. 
If the child misspelled a word, the correct form 
was set for him on paper or blackboard. The 
child, looking at the form, copied it below, — ten, 
twenty, or fifty times, as might be required. It 
was purely a mechanical exercise. Each time he 
wrote, he scarcely thought of its meaning ; he 
did not necessarily think of its sound. In all 
probability he did not translate its sounds into 
letters, he merely imitated the form he saw. It 
was more nearly an exercise in penmanship than 
in spelling. That it was mechanical and thought- 
less is suggested by a very common experience. 
Every teacher has noted that a child mechani- 
cally copying words might misread the form, 
mistaking an e for an z, or an o for an a, thus 
1 08 



THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

misspelling the word. The careless misspelling 
was then copied in the successive repetitions. It 
was a kind of correction which did not correct. 
The teacher did not guarantee a motive for the 
child's effort or a means for guaranteeing a full 
association of all the elements involved in good 
spelling, — meaning, pronunciation, and written 
form. The child's whole attention was on copy- 
ing, mastering a written form out of the normal 
setting of its use. The result was that, in many- 
cases, the very child who had written a word 
fifty times would misspell it in the composition 
class. There the chain of connections starts 
with a meaning, revives the pronunciation, and 
leads him straight to the old association with a 
wrong form because the misspelling was acquired 
in normal setting. If he had thought of his error 
every time he wrote the new form, the correc- 
tive work might still have been successful, for 
when he started to write the old and incorrect 
association the new form associated with it by 
the corrective repetition might have inhibited 
and diverted him to the new spelling. But the 
column copying did not even guarantee in- 
109 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

hibition. A true correction can be made by 
substituting a completely new chain of associa- 
tions, without aiming to use an inhibitive asso- 
ciate. The teacher should establish a new neural 
path beginning with meaning and leading through 
pronunciation to correct written form, and ex- 
ercise it so well that it would become the path 
of least resistance, leaving the whole incorrect 
association to fade out through disuse. 

Individual Treatment the Essence of Good 
Corrective Work 

The essence of good corrective work lies (i) in 
individual teaching and (2) in sufficient time for 
the formation of new habits. As long as the mass 
teaching of classes was our exclusive practice, 
any real correction of errors was impossible. One 
can teach new words to a whole class by group 
instruction, because all the children require them ; 
but misspellings are likely to be far more individ- 
ualistic in their distribution. Even when children 
misspell the same words, the misspellings will be 
different. And when the misspellings are alike, 
the causes will vary. The error in one case will 

HO 



THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

be due to the fact that the child did not see the 
form correctly ; in another, to faulty pronuncia- 
tion ; and in a third, to mere carelessness in writ- 
ing. The first requirement is good individual 
diagnosis. The second is suggestion by teacher 
to child of concrete exercises designed to correct 
the error. These must be sufficiently simple for 
the child to be able and likely to carry them on 
by himself. And then there must be some ac- 
count kept of these individual tasks, so that the 
teacher may re-test for the purpose of knowing 
if the correction has been made. The individual 
spelling lists, previously discussed, which are 
made up of words which the child either does 
not know and is told, or which he has actually 
misspelled, should be utilized to check up the 
efficiency of such individual corrections. 

The Need of Time and Exercise for Habit 
Formation 

But it takes time to substitute new habits for 

old, and the average teacher is far too impatient 

of error to see that its causes are deep seated. 

It is easier to attribute error to childish perver- 

iii 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

sity and to administer moral blame than to seek 
its psychological causes and treat them with per- 
sistent and thoughtful attention. How often 
does the teacher correct the child's error at one 
moment and expect him to know the word the 
next ! If the pupil slips up on the word the next 
moment the instructor is more likely to blame 
than help, as though the pupil were morally cul- 
pable. His error is treated as a matter of sin, not 
as one of gradual habit formation. The child 
should be interested in the need to correct. He 
should be given considerable exercise in the nor- 
mal use of the right form, so that the new habit 
may grow into a lusty competitor of the old. The 
teacher cannot get the result at once. In the 
early stages of correction it maybe that the child 
will spell the word correctly in the spelling period 
and lapse in his composition where the mind is 
centered upon ideas and form is merely in the 
margin of attention. This is not a discouraging 
fact ; it is rather a characteristic symptom of the 
first stages in reform. Later, in the spontaneous 
written exposition of his thought, he may be in- 
consistent in his spelling, — sometimes spelling 

112 



THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

the word as it should be and sometimes not. This 
should be a source of hope, not of despair, for it 
marks a middle stage of growth. It is only in the 
last stage that the new habit becomes completely 
ascendant and the word is spelled with consistent 
correctness. The teacher should remember that 
there are stages of growth in correcting spelling 
errors as there are in everything else. A single 
reprimand or caution by the teacher does not 
correct a mistake, it merely presents the prob- 
lem. Motive, time, care, and exercise are required 
to modify an error. 

Up to twenty years ago the characteristic ac- 
tivities of the spelling period were a mere exam- 
ination of the child's ability to spell and a drill- 
ing upon the correct form of misspelled words. 
Within the last decade the prevention of error, 
rather than the testing and noting of errors, has 
become the major activity. Apparently we are 
now about to devote an increased energy and 
ingenuity to the weakest spot in the spelling 
lesson, — the correction of misspellings. We are 
ready to develop a technique which will adequately 
correct those misspellings which escape all the 
113 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

anticipatory efforts of our best teachers. It is in 
the diagnosis of spelling errors and in the skill- 
ful substitution of new and correct habits that 
we shall find our largest immediate opportunity 
for improving our methods of teaching spelling. 



XIII 

THE QUANTITY OF FORMAL INSTRUCTION 

Fewer Words assigned per Lesson 

The change from the testing to the teaching of 
spelling in the class period has had a more or 
less immediate effect on the quantity of words 
assigned to the child for mastery within a given 
day, week, or year. The simple and formal hear- 
ing of spelling words permits an assignment of 
from fifteen to twenty-five words for each les- 
son ; the elaborate treatment of a developmental 
method of teaching makes it impossible even to 
seem to cover so much ground, and the number 
of words assigned for each day's mastery gradu- 
ally decreases. The extent of this change is 
indicated in the radical proposal of some of the 
best teachers and textbook writers that only 
three or four new words per lesson should be 
assigned in the primary grades and only five 
or six in the grammar grades. 

"5 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

The Smaller Vocabulary demanded 

The pressure of new and elaborate methods 
of teaching has reduced the assignments mate- 
rially, though considerable variation is still char- 
acteristic. The reduction has found sanction in 
scientific analysis and investigation. Some in- 
vestigators claim a child cannot master as many 
words as the old system demanded of him, that 
cramming with temporary efficiency concealed 
much superficiality in learning and that spell- 
ing errors were never adequately corrected. Quite 
regardless of the inefficiency of large assign- 
ments, others urge that large assignments are 
unnecessary. These quote authority to show that 
the writing vocabulary (as opposed to the larger 
reading vocabulary) of the average person does 
not usually extend much beyond three or four 
thousand words, while even the best spellers 
which have greatly reduced the size of their 
vocabularies still include a minimum of about six 
thousand words. From this point of view three 
thousand new words, or less, distributed over 
eight school years of from eight to ten months 
116 



THE QUANTITY OF INSTRUCTION 

each, make a thorough mastery of very small daily 
assignments of words completely adequate. The 
argument for fewer words is sound. The implica- 
tion that every word in the speller must be taught 
is not. Every teacher requires more spelling words 
in his text than he teaches to any one child. The 
environments, the courses of study, the class and 
personal needs of children vary so much from one 
part of the country to another that texts intended 
for general use must be large enough to cover the 
variations in common need. But just as fewer 
words are taught the individual child than before, 
so fewer words are included in modern texts than 
in the traditional books. Thus both class teach- 
ing and texts utilize smaller vocabularies. On 
grounds both of psychological efficiency and of 
social demand, the amount of work required in 
spelling has steadily decreased. 

Reduction in Time Allotment 

The movement for small assignments in spell- 
ing has had the secondary effect of reducing the 
time allotted to the formal study of the subject. 
Within recent decades there has been great var- 
117 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

iation in the time allotted to the subject of spell- 
ing. The larger city school systems show a 
variation anywhere from three to ten per cent of 
total recitation time assigned. But wholly regard- 
less of variation the allotment has been cut down 
from one quarter to one half, in practically all 
school systems. 

Less Frequent Periods 

The decreased time allotment has had an in- 
evitable effect upon the spelling period. Result- 
ing adjustments have been made in two distinct 
ways : (i) the cut in time has been evenly dis- 
tributed over five daily recitations ; or (2) in 
order not to make a teaching unit too short, 
three or four rather than five periods have been 
used. But the practice does not consistently 
follow one or the other plan, for there is con- 
siderable variation, different policies being fol- 
lowed in primary, intermediate, and grammar 
grades. 

Distribution through the Grades 

For example, there is a marked tendency to- 
118 



THE QUANTITY OF INSTRUCTION 

ward five periods a week with the youngest chil- 
dren, three with the intermediate pupi]s, and two, 
or even one, with grammar-grade children. Oc- 
casionally, when the work in the grammar grades 
becomes testing rather than teaching, as the older 
pupils are supposed to be able to study words 
and correct errors by themselves, five very short 
periods are utilized for formal work. 

The Elimination of Formal Study 

The tendency to vary the distribution of spell- 
ing periods also expresses itself in a movement 
toward the complete elimination of the special 
spelling period. There are four distinct symptoms 
of this tendency : (i) The subject of spelling is 
given no special time assignment during the first 
half or the whole of the first year. (2) The spell- 
ing period disappears from the higher grammar 
grades and is taught incidentally, that is, in con- 
nection with the other school subjects. (3) The 
time assignment for spelling is included under 
that of language and the subject is thus subordi- 
nated. (4) The theoretic proposal is made that a 
superior incidental teaching of spelling through- 
119 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

out the grades is just as effective as formal in- 
struction in special class periods. 

Formal Work in the First Grade 

The beginning of the formal teaching of spell- 
ing is now quite usually delayed till the second 
half of the first school year or till the beginning 
of the second grade. There have been arguments 
and influences behind this tendency other than 
those already mentioned. The primacy of reading 
in the first grades has somewhat delayed the in- 
troduction of such formal subjects as arithmetic, 
penmanship, and spelling. The delay of written 
composition and penmanship postpones the need 
to know how to spell. Under modern methods of 
teaching children to read, spelling is unnecessary 
for the beginner ; it is, like penmanship, one of 
the subordinate techniques necessary to written 
composition ; it appears in the curriculum the 
moment the emphasis is shifted from oral to 
written expression. 

Formal Study in the Higher Grammar Grades 

In the higher grammar grades the tendency 
120 



THE QUANTITY OF INSTRUCTION 

towards the reduction or elimination of formal 
study in spelling rests upon different grounds. 
The increased dependence upon incidental acqui- 
sitions of spelling, particularly of vocabularies 
peculiar to geography, arithmetic, history, and 
science, has reduced the need for extensive treat- 
ments in the spelling period, and curtailed the 
necessity for continuing the formal study of 
spelling in the highest grammar grades. Again, 
by the time the pupils have reached the higher 
grades the expediency of having the teacher de- 
velop new words and correct errors is question- 
able. The child who has been carefully taught in 
the lower grades is supposed to have acquired a 
spelling vocabulary for intimate daily use, and 
such new words as he needs to master he should 
learn for himself. It is the time in the pupil's 
school career when he ought to show power of 
independent study and self-correction, when he 
ought to become self-reliant. So here the teacher 
merely takes a short time for the formal testing 
of spelling lessons or else takes care of new 
words and misspellings as they occur incidentally 
in the process of instruction in the other subjects. 

121 



THE TEACHING OF SPELLING 

Complete Elimination of the Spelling Period 

The tendency to lump the spelling assignment 
with that of language in general is indicative of 
a movement which at one time attained a wide 
theoretic acceptance, but the application of which 
in practice is restricted. This was the movement 
toward abolishing the spelling period entirely and 
depending upon the incidental teaching of spell- 
ing words. Two current tendencies gave sanction 
to this step : (i) the increasing impetus toward 
reducing the time assigned to spelling ; and (2) 
the erstwhile professional influence which the 
doctrine of the correlation of subjects attained. 
Further sanction of a scientific type was given by 
the investigations of Rice and Cornman. Rice 
showed the waste of long-time periods under 
existing methods of instruction, and Cornman 
indicated that the prevalent special instruction 
in spelling was not superior in results to a careful 
and superior use of incidental teaching. 

Thus changes in pedagogical practice, psycho- 
logical criticisms, and better appraisals of social 
demand have greatly affected the time allotment 
122 



THE QUANTITY OF INSTRUCTION 

and time distribution in the teaching of spelling. 
They have diminished the percentage of school 
recitation-time given to the formal study of spell- 
ing, decreased the number of spelling periods 
per week, altered and varied the time distribution 
of these periods among the various grades, and 
in some places actually eliminated formal instruc- 
tion in spelling. 



OUTLINE 

I. THE NEED TO STUDY OUR INSTRUCTION IN 
SPELLING 

i. Our Sensitiveness to Spelling Defects. . . . I 

2. Resulting Complexity of Methods 3 

3. The Need of Evaluation 4 

4. A Preliminary Survey of Present Methods . . 5 

II. THE CHANGED STATUS OF SPELLING 

1. Teaching subordinates Testing 7 

2. Prevention supplements Correction 9 

3. Vital Instruction supersedes Formal Work . .10 

4. Change in the Type of Motivation 11 

5. Spelling reflects General Educational Progress . 13 

III. THE RELATION OF SPELLING TO OTHER 

SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

1. The Early Connection of Reading and Spelling . 15 

2. Its Influence 16 

3. Spelling as a Separate Subject ...... 16 

4. The Movement for Correlation 17 

5. The Present Relationship 18 

IV. THE SELECTION OF SPELLING MATERIALS 

1. The Importance of the Textbook 21 

2. The Influence of the Earliest Spellers. ... 22 

3. Books based on Classroom Trial 24 

4. The Need of investigating Adult Vocabularies . 25 

5. Supplementary Spelling Lists 25 

6. Grade Lists 26 

125 



OUTLINE 

7. Class Lists 26 

8. Personal Lists 27 

V. THE GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION OF 
WORDS 

1. Grading by Number of Syllables 31 

2. New Bases of Classification .32 

3. Classifications by Structure 32 

4. Classifications by Meaning or Use 33 

5. Classifications upon Both Bases 35 

VI. ASSOCIATING MEANING, PRONUNCIATION, 
AND SPELLING 

1. The Three Factors to be associated .... 37 

2. Formal Work neglects Meanings 39 

3. The Newer Methods correct this Neglect . . 39 

4. Inadequate Presentation of Essential Factors . 40 

5. The Need of Skepticism as to Special Methods . 43 

6. The Proper Sequence of Association .... 43 

7. The Method of Multiple Association .... 45 

VII. TEACHING THE MEANING OF WORDS 

1. Dependence of Early Methods upon an Oral 

Vocabulary 47 

2. Causes operating to force Content into the 

Spelling Period 48 

3. The More Recent Attempts to give Meaning to 

Words 50 

VIII. TEACHING THE PRONUNCIATION OF 

WORDS 

1. How the Problem of Pronunciation enters . . 55 

2. The Artificial Intimacy between Pronunciation 

and Spelling 56 

126 



OUTLINE 

3. Restoring the Natural Relation between Pro- 

nunciation and Meaning 57 

4. Three Modes of getting Pronunciation ... 58 

5. The Emphasis of Progressive Practice ... 59 

6. Some Specific Reforms 60 

7. The Case of the Phonogram 6r^ 

8. Advantages of the Phonogram 61 

IX. TEACHING THE ORDER OF LETTERS 

1. The Central Problem in Spelling 64 

2. Its Isolation made Spelling Formal 65 

3. Reform has succeeded mainly through attacking 

this Isolation 65 

4. The Special Technique of Mastering the Order 

of Letters 66 

5. Oral Spelling 67 

6. The Emphasis on Sound Elements 67 

7. Phonetic Translation arises from Oral Spelling 68 

8. The Method of Phonetic Translation .... 69 

9. Its Defective Assumption of Pronunciation . . 70 

10. The Probability of Inaccurate Translation . .71 

11. The Breakdown of Translation in Irregular 

Spellings 72 

12. The Long Concealment of these Defects ... 73 

13. Copying 74 

14. Written Spelling succeeds Oral Spelling ... 75 

15. Developmental Lessons in Spelling 76—---' 

16. Eye and Ear Tests 76 

17. Methods of Visualization 77 

18. Print or Script Models 78 



127 



OUTLINE 

X. DEVELOPING THE PUPIL'S INDEPENDENT 
POWER 

i. Teaching Children to study Supplementary to 

Instruction 81 

2. Four Characteristic Types of Activity ... 82 

3. Word-Analysis 82 

4. The Reaction against Word-Analysis ... 83 

5. Its Restoration in Spelling 83 

6. Word-Analysis and Word-Building .... 85 

7. The Worth of Word-Study 85 

8. The Use of Rules 89 

9. The Inductive Teaching of Rules 90 

10. The Small Number of Rules used 91 

11. The Use of the Dictionary 91 

12. The Specific Demand for Dictionary Work . 92 

13. Methods of Self-Cultivation 94 

XI. TESTING SPELLING 

1. Testing as an Exclusive Activity 96 

2. The Subordination of Testing 96 

3. Early Emphasis on Oral Spelling 97 

4. Its Artificiality 98 

5. The Appearance of the Spelling Match ... 99 

6. Its Shortcomings 100 

7. Reaction against the Spelling Match . . . .100 

8. Written Tests supersede Oral Recitations . . 101 

9. Testing by Dictation of Sentences .... 101 
10. The Place of Oral Work 102 

XII. THE CORRECTION OF MISSPELLINGS 

1. The Weakness of Previous Corrective Teach- 

ing 104 

2. The Difference between Original Learning and 

Correction 105 

128 



OUTLINE 

3. Failure to apply the Distinction 105 

4. Normal Stages in our Progress 106 

5. The Psychology of Presentation applied to 

Correction 107 

6. The Gross Defects of Old Corrective Methods 108 

7. Individual Treatment the Essence of Good 

Corrective Work no 

8. The Need of Time and Exercise for Habit 

Formation in 

XIII. THE QUANTITY OF FORMAL INSTRUCTION 

1. Fewer Words assigned per Lesson . . . .115 

2. The Smaller Vocabulary demanded . . . .116 

3. Reduction in Time Allotment 117 

4. Less Frequent Periods 118 

5. Distribution through the Grades 118 

6. The Elimination of Formal Study 119 

7. Formal Work in the First Grade 120 

8. Formal Study in the Higher Grammar Grades 120 

9. Complete Elimination of the Spelling Period . 122 



THE RIVERSIDE EDUCATIONAL 
MONOGRAPHS 

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL THEORY 

Dewey's INTEREST AND EFFORT IN EDUCATION 60 

Dewey's MORAL PRINCIPLES IN EDUCATION 35 

Eliot's EDUCATION FOR EFFICIENCY 35 

Emerson's EDUCATION 35 

Fiske's THE MEANING OF INFANCY 35 

Hyde's THE TEACHER'S PHILOSOPHY 35 

Palmer's THE IDEAL TEACHER 35 

Term an's THE TEACHER'S HEALTH 60 

Thorndikb's INDIVIDUALITY 35 

ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS 

Bbtts'sNEW IDEALS IN RURAL SCHOOLS 60 

Bloomfield's VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE OF YOUTH... .60 
Cubberley's CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCA- 
TION 35 

Cubberley's THE IMPROVEMENT OF RURAL SCHOOLS .35 

Perry's STATUS OF THE TEACHER 35 

Snedden's THE PROBLEM OF VOCATIONAL EDUCA- 
TION 35 

Trowbridge's THE HOME SCHOOL 60 

Weeks'sTHE PEOPLE'S SCHOOL 60 

METHODS OF TEACHING 

Betts's THE RECITATION 60 

Campagnac's THE TEACHING OF COMPOSITION 35 

Cooley's LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE GRADES 35 

Earhart>s TEACHING CHILDREN TO STUDY 60 

Evans's TEACHING OF HIGH SCHOOL MATHE- 
MATICS 35 

Haliburton and Smith's TEACHING POETRY IN THE 

GRADES 60 

Hartwell's TEACHING OF HISTORY 35 

Palmer's ETHICAL AND MORAL INSTRUCTION IN 

THE SCHOOLS 35 

Palmer's SELF-CULTIVATION IN ENGLISH 35 

Suzzallo's TEACHING OF PRIMARY ARITHMETIC 60 

Suzzallo's TEACHING OF SPELLING .60 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

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